CULTURE    AND    THE    GOSPEL. 


Culture  anti  tfje  (Gospel; 


A     PLEA 


THE   SUFFICIENCY   OF  THE   GOSPEL  TO  MEET 
THE  WANTS   OF  AN  ENLIGHTENED   AGE. 


By   REV.    S.    McCALL, 

OLD   SAYBROOK,    CT. 


NEW    YORK: 

A.  D.  F.  RANDOLPH    AND    CO. 

1S71. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1870,  by 

A.   D.    F.   RANDOLPH   AND  COMPANY, 

In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


Cambridge: 
press  of  john  wilson  and  son. 


NOTE. 

The  germ  of  this  little  work  is  a  "  Concio 
ad  Clerum,"  preached,  by  appointment  of  the 
General  Association  of  Connecticut,  at  New 
Haven,  July  20,  1869,  in  connection  with  the 
Commencement  exercises  of  Yale  College. 
This  may  account  for  the  particular  cast  of 
the  production.  The  theme  of  that  discourse 
was  "The  special  adapteclness  of  the  Gospel 
to  the  wants  of  an  enlightened  age."  The 
discussion  here  takes  a  wider  range,  for  the 
sake  of  more  general  usefulness. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAGB 

I.     Introduction .     .       i 

II.     The  Gospel  an  Unimpeachable  Record  of 

Facts n 

III.  The    Doctrines    High    Enough    for    the 

Ripest  Intelligence 20 

IV.  A  Rule   of   Action   demanding    and    pro- 

moting Intelligence 33 

V.     Method  of  Operation,  Intellectual  and 

Spiritual 38 

VI.     The  Historic  Demonstration 47 

VII.     Affinity  with  all  True  Culture  and  Ex- 
cellence      52 

VIII.     A  Corrective  of  the  Faults  Incident  to 

Knowledge 67 

IX.     Capable  of  Meeting  the  Growing  Wants 

of  the  Soul 75 

X.     Grandeur  of  its  Practical  Mission      .     .     89 
XI.     Conclusion 119 


CULTURE    AND    THE   GOSPEL. 


I. 

INTRODUCTION. 

A  MONG  the  earliest  traditions  of  our  race 
is  one  of  a  golden  age,  when,  according 
to  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  Saturn  ruled  the 
earth.  He,  fearing  that  he  should  be  de- 
throned by  one  of  his  sons,  devoured  his  chil- 
dren at  their  birth.  But  Jupiter  was  concealed 
by  his  mother,  and  at  an  early  age  deposed  his 
father,  and  reigned  in  his  stead.  Christianity 
also  has  its  tradition  of  a  golden  age,  when 
love  reigned,  and  sorrow  was  unknown.  Its 
records  speak  of  the  advent  of  a  hostile  power, 
of  the  entrance  of  Satan,  sin,  death,  and  all 
our  woe.  But  they  know  nothing  of  another 
divinity  able  to  wrest  the  sceptre  from  the 
hands  of  Him  who  first  held  the  throne.     They 


2  INTRODUCTION. 

do  not  chronicle  long,  gloomy  ages  of  degen- 
eracy among  men,  and  of  strife  and  violence 
among  the  gods,  without  any  promise  or  hope 
of  restoration  and  peace.  But  upon  the  very 
day  of  Satan's  first  triumph  came  the  promise 
of  the  Seed  who  should  bruise  his  head.  And 
for  ages  the  promise  was  renewed,  till,  in  the 
fulness  of  time,  "God  sent  forth  His  Son, 
made  of  a  woman,  made  under  the  law,  to 
redeem  them  that  were  under  the  law,  that  we 
might  receive  the  adoption  of  sons."  The  work 
of  this  Son  is  not  to  dethrone  His  Father,  but 
to  restore  the  world  to  its  allegiance  to  Him ; 
and  in  this  restoration  reproduce  its  golden 
age,  with  additional  and  higher  benefits  and 
felicities. 

But  there  are  not  wanting  those,  who  call  the 
paradise  of  the  Mosaic  records  a  myth,  and 
represent  their  Jehovah  as  an  old  man,  too 
feeble  to  cope  with  the  fiery  genius  of  this  age, 
the  spirit  of  knowledge  and  wisdom  and  prog- 
ress, the  Jupiter-Tonans  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  They  are  fond  of  expatiating  upon 
the  antagonisms  between  the  old  Bible-religion 


INTRODUCTION.  3 

and  the  discoveries  of  modern  science,  and  of 
predicting  for  the  latter  a  speedy  and  universal 
triumph.  Their  battle  cry  is,  "  Science  must  in- 
crease and  prevail."  But  there  is  to  us  nothing 
terrible  in  that  sound.  We  are  not  only  quite 
willing  that  real  science  should  increase,  but 
we  will  gladly  hasten  its  triumphs  by  every 
means  at  our  command.  We  are  not  careful 
to  defend  any  falsehood  in  physics,  which  the 
ignorance  of  any  part  of  the  church,  in  any 
age,  has  endorsed.  The  true  church  found 
out  a  great  while  ago  that  "the  world  moves." 
We  have  no  controversy  with  real  light-bearers, 
show  us  what  they  may. 

But  when  men,  misled  by  their  theories  and 
speculations,  call  darkness  light,  and  parade 
before  us  "  the  oppositions  of  science  falsely  so 
called,"  and  demand  of  us  the  surrender  of  our 
faith  in  the  Scriptures,  we  are  bold  to  tell  them 
we  prefer  "the  sure  word  of  prophecy,"  for 
"the  word  of  the  Lord  is  tried,"  and  we  doubt 
not  it  will  endure  for  ever.  We  expect  science 
to  increase,  we  expect  progress  in  all  depart- 
ments of  knowledge,  we  hail  every  indication 


4  INTR  OD  UC  TION. 

of  growing  intelligence  with  delight.  But  we 
reserve  the  right  to  discriminate  between  pre- 
tenders or  experimenters  and  real  teachers. 

We  are  aware  that  mistakes  have  been  made 
in  religion,  and  by  religious  men  in  matters 
of  secular  knowledge.  But  we  think  those, 
who  have  set  up  their  theories  or  their  discov- 
eries against  the  word  of  God,  by  no  means 
infallible.  We  have  observed  sometimes  a 
chano-e  of  base  even  in  the  so  called  scientific 
world.  And  even  now  we  hear  it  whispered 
in  certain  quarters,  with  a  sort  of  oracular  as- 
surance, that  Gravitation, —  which,  in  the  hands 
of  Newton  and  others,  has  been  a  golden  key 
to  unlock  so  many  mysteries  of  the  earth  and 
the  heavens,  —  is,  to  say  the  least,  quite  un- 
worthy of  the  high  honor  it  has  enjoyed  :  and 
that  a  new  Philosophy  of  Force,  resolving  all 
things  into  modes  of  motion,  is  the  only  true 
wisdom,  and  is  destined  to  make  all  things 
new  in  the  whole  domain  of  human  thought 
and  knowledge.  But  truth  is  our  concern,  not 
less  than  it  is  of  those,  who  confidently  claim 
for  themselves  all  the  treasures  of  knowledge, 


INTR  OD  UC  TION.  5 

and  call  us  the  victims  of  superstition.  We 
think  at  least  we  know  whom  we  have  be- 
lieved, and  are  ready  to  give  an  answer  to 
every  man  that  asketh  a  reason  of  the  hope 
that  is  in  us.  The  church  having  had  large 
experience  in  battle  with  the  giants,  will  not 
be  dismayed  by  the  advent  of  any  new  divinity, 
not  even  when  Minerva  leaps  fully  armed  from 
the  head  of  Jupiter. 

It  is  no  new  thing  that  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel  should  be  accounted  foolishness.  It 
was  this  to  the- cultivated  men  of  the  apostolic 
age.  And  yet  it  was  declared  to  be  the  power 
and  the  wisdom  of  God,  and  God's  foolishness  to 
be  wiser  than  men.  In  view  of  it,  one  of  the  loft- 
iest intellects  of  that  age,  or  of  any  age,  indited 
this  language:  "Oh,  the  depth  of  the  riches 
both  of  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  God  ! " 
And  still  in  view  of  it  we  may  renew  the  chal- 
lenge of  the  prophet,  "  Who  hath  directed  the 
Spirit  of  the  Lord,  or  being  his  counsellor  hath 
taught  him?  With  whom  took  he  counsel, 
and  who  instructed  him,  and  taught  him  in  the 
path  of  judgment,  and  taught  him  knowledge, 


6  INTRODUCTION. 

and  showed  to  him  the  way  of  understand- 
ing?" 

The  Scriptures  unquestionably  claim  for  the 
gospel  scheme  the  first  or  highest  place  in  all 
the  manifestations  of  the  wisdom  of  God.  And 
the  writers  of  this  book  were  not  ignorant  of 
the  fact,  that  His  perfections  are  notably  dis- 
played in  the  constitution  of  nature  and  man, 
and  in  the  history  of  the  world.  The  inference 
is  plain  and  direct,  that  this  scheme  must  be 
sufficient  for  the  necessities  of  men  up  to  any 
point  of  intelligence,  which  they  can  possibly 
attain. 

The  application  of  this  scheme  is  made  the 
special  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  "  search- 
ed! all  things,  yea  the  deep  things  of  God." 

The  end  proposed  to  be  answered  by  it  is  the 
highest  to  which  any  can  aspire.  Oneness  in 
the  faith,  a  practical  knowledge  of  the  Son  of 
God,  a  perfect  manhood,  even  the  measure 
of  the  fulness  of  Christ,  are  combined  by  the 
great  apostle  as  the  grand  aim  and  result  of 
gospel  teaching.  "And  he  gave  some,  apos- 
tles:  and  some,  prophets;   and  some,  evangel- 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

ists ;  and  some,  pastors  and  teachers;  for  the 
perfecting  of  the  saints,  for  the  work  of  the 
ministry,  for  the  edifying  of  the  body  of  Christ ; 
till  we  all  come  in  the  unity  of  the  faith,  and  oi 
the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God,  unto  a  perfect 
man,  unto  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  ful 
ness  of  Christ."  If  we  desire  to  know  what  this' 
fulness  is,  we  may  learn  it  from  the  Gospels  and 
the  Epistles.  "  And  the  Word  was  made  flesh, 
and  dwelt  among  us,  and  we  beheld  his  glory, 
the  glory  as  of  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father, 
full  of  o-race  and  truth."  "To  this  end  was  1 
born,  and  for  this  cause  came  I  into  the  world, 
that  I  should  bear  witness  unto  the  truth. 
Every  one  that  is  of  the  truth  heareth  my 
voice."  "In  whom  are  hid  all  the  treasures  of 
wisdom  and  knowledge."  "Beware  lest  any 
man  spoil  you  through  philosophy  and  vain 
deceit,  after  the  tradition  of  men,  after  the  rudi- 
ments of  the  world  and  not  after  Christ.  For 
in  him  dwelleth  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead 
bodily."  Truth,  knowledge,  wisdom,  in  regal 
perfection,  divine  fulness,  —  can  the  most  en- 
lightened age  rise  above  or  go  beyond  these? 


3  INTR  OD  UC  Tl  ON. 

If  we  allow  the  Scriptures  to  make  and  plead 
their  own  claims,  we  shall  without  a  question 
be  brought  to  the  conclusion  that  the  gospel  is 
adequate  to  the  wants  of  any  age,  however  ripe 
its  culture,  however  advanced  its  intelligence. 
They  contemplate  no  other  scheme  of  religion, 
no  change  in  substance  of  doctrine,  for  the  bet- 
ter instruction  of  even  the  latest  ages.  The 
time  of  shadows  has  passed  away,  and  the  good 
things,  which  were  to  come,  have  come,  and 
will  abide  until  the  end,  till  the  revelation  of 
the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth,  wherein 
dwelleth  righteousness.  This  book  has  only 
anathemas  for  those  who  preach  another  gos- 
pel. Its  last  word  of  warning  is  this  :  "  If  any 
man  shall  add  unto  these  things,  God  shall  add 
unto  him  the  plagues  that  are  written  in  this 
book.  And  if  *any  man  shall  take  away  from 
the  words  of  the  book  of  this  prophecy,  God 
shall  take  away  his  part  out  of  the  book  of  life, 
and  out  of  the  holy  city,  and  from  the  things 
which  are  written  in  this  book."  Only  those 
who  reject  the  Scriptures,  or  at  least  deny  their 
inspiration,  can  look  for  a  more  perfect  scheme 


INTRODUCTION.  9 

to  meet  the  demands  of  an  enlightened  age, 
With  this  conclusion  we  who  believe  may  for 
ourselves  rest  content,  cleaving  to  the  old  gos- 
pel in  its  simplicity,  without  any  misgivings, 
until  we  are  discharged  from  our  earthly  min- 
istry, resting  upon  it  all  our  hope  of  personal 
salvation,  and  the  completed  redemption  of  the 
world. 

But  for  the  sake  of  those,  who  question  the 
authority  of  this  book,  and  more  especiallv  of 
those,  who  are  in  danger  of  being  drawn  away 
from  the  faith  by  their  pretensions  to  a  more  per- 
fect wisdom,  we  may  be  justified  in  setting  forth 
some  of  the  grounds  in  reason  which  support 
the  position  assumed  by  the  Scriptures.  Any- 
thing like  a  complete  exhibition  of  these  must 
take  notice  of  the  following  points  :  A  record 
of  facts,  which  will  bear  the  most  rigid  criti- 
cism ;  a  system  of  doctrines,  at  least  up  to  the 
level  of  the  ripest  intelligence  ;  a  rule  of  action, 
demanding  the  exercise  of  an  enlightened  iudcr- 
ment  for  its  most  perfect  application  ;  an  intel- 
lectual and  spiritual,  rather  than  a  physical  or 
a   sensuous,    method   of  operation  ;   a    history, 


I O  INTR  OD  UC  TION. 

demonstrating  the  practical  superiority  of  the 
scheme ;  affinity  with  all  true  culture  and  ex- 
cellence ;  an  efficient  corrective  of  the  faults 
specially  developed  in  an  advanced  state  of  in- 
telligence ;  capability  of  meeting  the  growing 
wants  of  the  soul ;  a  mission  to  develop  and  en- 
gross the  best  powers  of  the  mind  and  heart. 


THE    GOSPEL,  &c.  ,     II 


II. 


THE   GOSPEL  AN    UNIMPEACHABLE    RECORD 
OF  FACTS. 

r  I  ^HAT  form  of  philosophy,  called  by  its 
author  and  adherents  the  Positive  —  and 
which,  in  their  belief,  is  the  final  form  of 
knowledge,  and  destined  to  be  the  universal  — 
makes  a  strenuous  demand  for  facts.  To  this 
demand  we  take  no  exception.  While  we  do 
not  accept  this  philosophy  as  a  whole,  nor 
share  the  confidence  of  its  adherents  with 
respect  to  its  general  prevalence  or  its  advan- 
tages, we  concede  the  propriety  of  this  demand. 
We  have  no  answer  but  that  of  consent  to  the 
author  of  a  Biographical  History  of  Philosophy, 
when,  in  the  interest  of  real  knowledge  as 
opposed  to  mere  opinion,  he  quotes  with  appro- 
bation from  the  writings  of  Sir  Francis  Bacon, 


12  THE    GOSPEL 

such  words  as  these  :  "  Men  have  sought  to 
make  a  world  from  their  own  conceptions,  and 
to  draw  from  their  own  minds  all  the  materials 
which  they  employed  ;  but  if  instead  of  doing 
so  they  had  consulted  experience  and  obser- 
vation, they  would  have  had  facts  and  not 
opinions  to  reason  about,  and  might  ultimately 
have  arrived  at  the  knowledge  of  the  laws 
which  govern  the  material  world." 

We  propose  to  cany  the  demand  for  facts 
into  the  domain  of  spiritual  as  well  as  of  ma- 
terial things.  We  hold  that  there  are  facts  of 
a  spiritual  order,  and  that  these,  when  properly 
verified,  are  the  sure  foundation  of  religion. 
The  record  which  God  has  given  of  His  Son 
is  a  record  of  facts;  some  of  them,  indeed, 
lying  out  of  the  range  of  our  observation,  but 
supported  by  appropriate  evidence.  The  life 
of  Jesus  Christ,  substantially  as  reported  to  us 
by  the  Evangelists,  is  a  fact.  It  is  no  mythic 
figure,  which  moves  before  us  upon  their  pages. 
The  date,  place,  and  circumstances  of  His 
birth  and  death  can  be  accurately  determined. 
It  is  worth  while  to  remember,  and  to  magnify 


AN  UNIMPEACHABLE  RECORD.  1 3 

even  more  than  writers  upon  Christian  Evi- 
dences have  been  wont  to  do,  that  his  life  was 
fully  within  the  historic  period.  The  record 
does  not  send  us  back  to  the  dim  shadows  of 
uncertain  tradition,  but  sets  Him  among  men 
as  distinctly  seen  as  those  of  the  last  century. 
We  have  veritable  history  filling  its  place  in 
the  annals  of  a  distant  but  not  hidden  age. 
This  thing  was  not  done  in  a  corner. 

And  the  testimony  has  not  yet  been  success- 
fully impeached,  although  thousands  of  the 
keened  intellects,  and  the  most  hostile  hearts, 
have  lent  their  energies  to  the  task.  We  stand 
for  the  facts,  we  stand  by  the  record,  for  reasons 
which  satisfy  us,  which  have  satisfied  many  of 
the  leading  minds  in  all  the  Christian  centuries, 
and  which  we  are  persuaded  ought  to  satisfy 
the  most  advanced  thinkers  of  this  and  every 
subsequent  age.  But  this  is  not  the  place  to 
give  even  a  synopsis  of  those  reasons.  We 
have  works  on  the  Evidences,  which  have  not 
been  answered  by  the  enemies  of  the  cross,  and 
we  shall  have  other  works  as  there  may  be  oc- 
casion in  the  future  conflicts  of  the  church.     If 


14  THE    GOSPEL 

unbelief  has  more  Goliahs  to  defy  the  armies 
of  the  living  God,  the  church  has  more  Davids 
to  take  off  their  heads.  All  that  we  ask  of  our 
adversaries  is  fair  treatment  of  the  evidences, 
a  candid  consideration  of  the  facts.  We  hold, 
with  Isaac  Taylor,  that,  — 

"  If  those  modes  of  proceeding,  which  have  been 
authenticated  as  good  in  other  cases,  are  allowed  to 
take  effect  in  this  case,  nothing  in  the  entire  round 
of  human  belief  is  more  infallibly  sure  than  is  Chris- 
tianity, when  it  claims  to  be,  —  Religion  given  to 
man  by  God.  It  can  be  held  in  question  only  by  aid 
of  violence  done  to  established  principles  of  reason- 
ing, and  by  contempt  of  the  laws  of  evidence,  which 
in  all  cases  analagous  to  this  are  enforced." 

"  All  things  mundane  I  must  regard  as  a  troubled 
dream  ;  all  history  must  become  as  an  incoherent 
myth,  if  it  be  not  certain  that  the  Christ  of  the  Gos- 
pels is  a  reality,  and  the  incidents  of  His  life  in  the 
strictest  sense  historical."  * 

We  invent  nothing,  we  suppress  nothing,  we 
mean  to  pervert  nothing,  but  take  the  duly 
authenticated  record,  and  govern  ourselves  as 
the  facts  there  inscribed  require.     If  many  of 

*  Restoration  of  Belief,  pages  109  and  364. 


AN  UNIMPEACHABLE  RECORD.  1 5 

them  are  not  found  elsewhere,  this  does  not 
bring  them  justly  under  suspicion,  but  simply 
calls  for  a  more  careful  testing  of  the  accom- 
panying proofs.  If  they  are  sui generis ,  so  is 
their  purpose,  a  purpose  vast,  good,  and  neces- 
sary enough  to  justify  a  new  thing  under  the 
sun,  especially  since  that  thing  had  been  the 
burden  of  prophecy  for  not  less  than  four 
thousand  years. 

For  the  quality  of  these  facts  we  ask,  with- 
out hesitation,  the  respect  and  even  the  admir- 
ation of  all  thinking  men.  The  incidents  of 
that  wonderful  life  are  neither  of  doubtful  pro- 
priety nor  trivial  purpose.  The  incarnation,  the 
miraculous  conception,  the  wonderful  preserva- 
tion in  infancy,  the  ripe  wisdom  in  childhood, 
the  preaching,  the  healings,  the  miracles  of 
every  sort,  the  sufferings,  the  crucifixion,  the 
resurrection,  and  the  ascension,  are  not  only 
peculiar,  but  also  grand  and  inspiring  realities. 
They  constitute  a  career  of  surpassing  beauty, 
dignity,  power,  and  glory.  Whoever  admits 
that  these  are  facts,  must  confess  that  there  is 
no   other   such   series  of  facts   in  the   history 


1 6  THE    GOSPEL 

of  the  world,  nor  even  any  series  of  fancies 
of  equal  elevation,  in  all  the  legends,  fic- 
tions, and  mythologies  of  men.  Until  one 
shall  arise  to  outdo  the  works  of  Christ,  and 
give  better  evidence  of  divine  Sonship,  we 
shall  hold  ourselves  justified  in  challenging 
for  Him  the  reverence  and  allegiance  of  all 
mankind. 

The  enemies  of  Christ  understand  very  well 
the  legitimate  effect  of  the  admission  that  the 
Evangelists  have  given  us  a  true  account  of  a 
real  life.  Hence  the  attempts  of  such  men  as 
Strauss,  Renan,  and  Schenkel,  to  say  nothing 
of  other  and  earlier  writers  of  the  same  general 
class,  to  divest  the  Gospels  of  their  strictly  his- 
toric character,  and  make  them  the  creations 
of  later  rhapsodists,  or  a  medley  of  fact  and 
fiction,  embellished  by  partizanship  and  super- 
stition. The  Christ  of  the  Gospels,  in  the 
beauty  of  His  faultless  humanity  and  the  power 
of  His  essential  divinity,  is  too  formidable  for 
the  peace  of  those,  who  will  not  bow  down  and 
worship  Him.  Their  inward  thought  seems  to 
be  that  of  the  chief  priests  and  Pharisees,  when 


AN  UNIMPEACHABLE  RECORD.  1 7 

they  said,  "If  we  let  him  thus  alone,  all  men 
will  believe  on  him ;  and  the  Romans  shall 
come  and  take  away  both  our  place  and  na- 
tion." Hence  one  principal  part  of  the  work 
of  the  Christian  advocate  in  our  day  is  to 
maintain  the  historic  accuracy,  the  integrity 
of  the  records,  which  detail  the  beginning  and 
ending  and  manifold  incidents  of  His  matchless 
life.  In  the  facts,  accepted  as  facts,  is  the 
secret  of  that  power,  by  which  He  will  draw  all 
men  to  himself. 

In  this  connection,  a  word  about  the  number 
of  the  facts  may  not  be  out  of  place.  It  must 
be  confessed  that  for  so  wonderful  a  life  the 
account  is  very  brief.  But  this  we  are  told  is 
not  for  lack  of  materials.  The  extraordinary 
language  of  John  is,  "And  there  are  also  many 
other  things  which  Jesus  did,  the  which,  if 
they  should  be  written  every  one,  I  suppose 
that  even  the  world  itself  could  not  contain  the 
books  that  should  be  written."  And  yet  three 
of  the  Gospels  are  occupied  chiefly  with  the 
same  things.  Why  this  repetition,  when  there 
was  so  much  material,  and  so  little  space  al- 


1 8  THE    GOSPEL 

lowed  ?  To  make  us  sure  of  the  great  things, 
rather  than  to  gratify  mere  curiosity  by  a  multi- 
plicity of  details.  Children  and  unreflecting 
persons  desire  many  or  long-drawn  stories. 
Maturer  minds  are  satisfied  with  less  particu- 
lars, and  pass  to  the  bearing  of  the  facts  re- 
lated. To  the  ignorant,  incidents  are  the  chief 
thing  ;  to  the  reflecting,  the  principles  which 
they  illustrate.  The  peculiarity  of  the  Gospels, 
with  respect  to  the  number  of  facts  related, 
commends  them  to  the  reflecting  mind.  Here 
is  material  enough  to  engage,  not  so  much  as 
to  distract,  attention,  enough  certainly  for  the 
profoundest  study  of  any  generation  which  has 
yet  come  upon  the  stage.  Our  great  want  to- 
day is  not  more  facts,  or  greater  facts,  but  a 
better  appreciation  of  those  in  our  possession. 
The  apocryphal  gospels  were  invented  for  weak 
and  credulous  minds,  but  they  are  an  offence  to 
sound  intelligence.  They  show  the  craving  of 
undisciplined  minds  for  the  marvelous,  without 
reference  to  any  great  moral  purpose  to  be  served 
by  it.  But  the  influence  is  every  way  pernicious. 
The  dictate  of  wisdom,  the  utterance  of  ancient 


AN  UNIMPEACHABLE  RECORD.  1 9 

days,  an  utterance  still  in  honor  among  think- 
ing men,  is  "Non  multa  sed  multum."  And 
this  demand  is  exactly  met  by  our  Gospels  in 
their  present  form. 


20         THE  DOCTRINES   HIGH  ENOUGH 


III. 


THE    DOCTRINES    HIGH    ENOUGH    FOR    THE 
RIPEST    INTELLIGENCE. 

TRACTS  which  mean  nothing  and  teach 
nothing,  if  such  a  thing  were  possible, 
could  possess  but  little  or  no  interest  for  an 
enlightened  mind.  Scientific  men  are  patient 
in  observation,  not  so  much  for  the  sake  of  the 
things  they  see  as  for  the  sake  of  the  truths 
which  those  things  teach.  Science  is  not  the 
bare  knowledge  of  facts,  but  rather  of  their 
relations  and  bearings.  Out  of  their  obser- 
vations natural  philosophers  construct  their 
system  of  philosophy,  the  orderly  statement  of 
those  doctrines  which  they  suppose  their  facts 
justify.  In  like  manner  gospel  facts  stand  not 
alone,  but  are  the  foundation  of  a  system  of 
doctrines  in  religion  and  ethics.     And  of  this 


FOR    THE  RIPEST  INTELLIGENCE.       21 

system,  disclosed  in  part  by  the  teachings  of 
Christ,  and  in  part  by  those  of  the  apostles, 
and  other  inspired  men,  we  affirm  that  it  is  at 
least  up  to  the  level  of  the  ripest  intelligence  to 
which  any  age  or  any  man  has  yet  attained. 
So  much  as  this  is  requisite  to  its  adaptedness 
to  the  wants  of  an  enlightened  age.  We  might 
claim  for  the  gospel  much  more  than  this,  with- 
out overstating  its  merits.  It  has  depths  which 
no  man  has  yet  fathomed.  And  this  is  a  proof 
that  it  is  not  of  man,  nor  by  the  will  of  man, 
but  by  the  revelation  of  God.  It  is  also  an 
indication  that  it  is  for  man  in  the  fullest  devel- 
opment of  his  powers.  There  ever  has  been, 
and  we  do  not  hesitate  to  say  ever  will  be,  some- 
thing in  it  to  invite  further  study  on  the  part 
of  the  strongest  and  most  accomplished  minds. 
In  this  respect  it  agrees  with  the  universal 
frame  of  nature.  In  the  heights  above  and 
the  depths  beneath  there  are  many  things  which 
the  eye  of  no  observer  has  yet  seen,  which  the 
thought  of  no  savant  has  yet  reached.  If  the 
astronomer  perfects  his  instruments,  and  so 
enlarges    his   field  of  vision,   he    is  rewarded 


22         THE  DOCTRINES   HIGH  ENOUGH 

indeed  by  clearer  views  of  familiar  objects, 
but  he  discerns  also  in  the  receding  distance 
other  objects  whose  form  he  cannot  determine. 
There  is  ever  something  beyond.  And  the 
fact,  that  it  is  thus  with  the  most  patient  and 
far-seeing  students  of  the  gospel,  indicates  that 
it  also  is  the  production  of  the  one  infinite 
Mind. 

But  the  simple  fact  that  there  are  points 
of  gospel  doctrine  as  yet  beyond  the  grasp  of 
men,  is  not  its  only  claim  to  the  attention  of 
intelligent  minds.  We  do  not  hesitate  to  affirm 
that  it  has  no  points  which  are  unworthy  of 
their  study,  respect,  and  assent.  It  is  the 
fashion  of  many  in  our  times  to  exalt  the  gospel 
morality,  while  they  deny  what  they  call  its 
dogmas.  They  have  no  patience  with  some  of 
its  doctrines.  They  would  remand  its  teach- 
ings about  sin,  redemption,  and  eternal  retri- 
bution to  the  faith  of  an  ignorant  and  credulous 
age.  They  consider  that  the  world  has  now 
no  place  for  notions  so  monstrous.  But  we 
claim  that  its  doctrine  of  sin  is  fully  justified  by 
the  developments  of  sin  even  in  this  enlightened 


FOR    THE  RIPEST  INTELLIGENCE.       23 

age,  that  its  doctrine  of  redemption  is  still 
essential  to  the  actual  putting  away  of  trans- 
gression, and  that  its  doctrine  of  retribution  is 
rendered  the  more  credible  by  the  light  which 
science  pours  upon  the  sweep  of  natural  law, 
and  the  consequences  which  wait  on  its  viola- 
tion. 

The  more  man  is  magnified  by  the  discovery 
of  the  possibilities  latent  within  him,  the  greater 
must  appear  the  wrong  of  either  preventing 
these  possibilities  or  perverting  them  to  a  base 
and  destructive  purpose.  The  more  mind  is 
developed,  either  in  some  particular  line  of  prog- 
ress or  in  the  general  elevation  of  its  faculties, 
the  higher  is  our  estimate  of  its  value,  and  the 
clearer  our  perception  of  the  wrong,  the  guilt 
involved  in  its  misuse.  What  we  think  excus- 
able in  an  ignorant  child  we  think  heinous  in 
an  intelligent  man.  The  gospel  makes  this 
distinction  in  the  degrees  of  human  guilt :  "And 
the  times  of  this  ignorance  God  winked  at ; 
but  now  commandeth  all  men  everywhere  to 
repent."  "If  I  had  not  come  and  spoken  unto 
them,  thev  had  not  had  sin  ;  but  now  they  have 


24         THE   DOCTRINES   HIGH  ENOUGH 

no  cloak  for  their  sin."  "And  that  servant, 
which  knew  his  lord's  will,  and  prepared  not 
himself,  neither  did  according  to  his  will,  shall 
be  beaten  with  many  stripes.  But  he  that 
knew  not,  and  did  commit  things  worthy  of 
stripes,  shall  be  beaten  with  few  stripes.  For 
unto  whomsoever  much  is  given,  of  him  shall 
much  be  required ;  and  to  whom  men  have 
committed  much,  of  him  they  will  ask  the 
more."  According  to  these  representations, 
the  measure  of  a  man's  guilt  is  determined  by 
the  measure  of  his  light  or  his  intelligence. 
No  sane  man  can  think  of  taking  exception  to 
this. 

But  the  rock  of  offence  is  the  tremendous 
consequence,  which  the  gospel  ascribes  to  the 
intelligent  violation  of  the  moral  law.  Many, 
who  claim  to  be  among  the  wisest  of  their  gen- 
eration, call  this  a  horrid  phantom,  devised  to 
frighten  the  ignorant  and  superstitious.  But 
increased  reflection  upon  the  capabilities  of 
mind,  the  goodness  of  God,  the  nature  of  moral 
action  and  moral  government,  and  the  conse- 
quences which  naturally  flow  from  transgres- 


FOR    THE   RIPEST  INTELLIGENCE.       25 

sion,  ought  to  produce  a  profounder  impression 
of  the  evil  of  sin.  A  perfect  understanding  of 
its  relations  and  bearings,  of  the  authority  which 
it  contemns,  of  the  goodness  which  it  wrongs, 
of  the  interests  which  it  destroys,  of  the  bless- 
edness which  it  prevents  and  of  the  misery 
which  it  procures,  of  its  tendency  to  spread  its 
poison  and  perpetuate  its  power,  would  give  a 
view  of  its  enormity  not  less  distinct  and  fearful 
than  that  which  confronts  us  upon  the  sacred 
page.  It  is  not  the  intelligence  of  men  which 
takes  offence  at  the  gospel  exhibition  of  human 
guilt.  We  have  an  interest  in  denying  our 
guilt,  or  reducing  it  to  the  lowest  possible  point. 
Those  who  would  reach  a  just  conclusion  in 
this  matter,  must  let  their  intelligence,  without 
their  prejudices,  enter  into  this  sphere,  must 
consent  to  study  the  deep  things  which  pertain 
to  this  evil.  A  man  deep  in  chemistry  or 
astronomy,  or  in  the  whole  round  of  natural 
science,  may  be  profoundly  ignorant  here. 
An  exclusive  attention  to  the  play  of  physi- 
cal forces  may  even  disqualify  a  man  to 
speak  of  a  thing  so  diverse  in  its  nature  as  the 


26         THE  DOCTRINES  HIGH  ENOUGH 

voluntary  and  perverse   action  of  a   knowing 
mind. 

And  let  not  those  who  think  they  have 
disproved  the  existence  of  mind  as  a  thing 
radically  different  from  the  material  organism, 
and  thereby  made  sin  impossible,  suppose  that 
they  have  introduced  an  improvement  into  the 
economy  of  human  thought  and  life.  If  it  be 
so  that  man  is  doomed,  by  the  irresistible  action 
of  physical  forces,  to  do  and  continue  to  do, 
and  to  increase  in  doing,  that  dreadful  thing1 
which  we  call  sin  —  a  thing  terrible  in  its  direct 
influence  upon  others,  and  its  reflex  influence 
upon  himself — what  is  he  the  better?  If  he 
can  neither  cease  from  it  nor  escape  from  its 
effects,  is  he  not  in  a  far  worse  condition  than 
he  is  put  by  the  gospel  ?  What  do  we  gain  to 
be  without  sin,  if  we  cannot  be  without  this 
awful  curse  ?  And  what  claim  to  superior 
intelligence  can  that  man  have,  who  divests 
himself  of  the  faculties  and  prerogatives  which 
are  the  prime  condition  of  all  intelligence,  who 
in  his  admiration  of  chemical  affinities  and 
modes  of  motion  discrowns  himself,  and  makes 


FOR    THE  RIPEST  INTELLIGENCE.       27 

all  thinking  beings  the  slaves  of  a  substance 
without  the  power  of  thought,  and  a  process 
without  the  shadow  of  a  purpose?  Let  men 
use  their  intelligence  honestly  and  faithfully 
in  trying  to  discover  what  they  are,  what  is  the 
nature  and  extent  of  their  moral  relations,  then 
they  will  have  no  difficulty  in  seeing  that  sin  is 
exceeding  sinful. 

Even  those  who  cannot  abide  the  gospel 
doctrine  of  sin,  often  show,  by  the  maledictions 
which  they  pour  upon  its  advocates,  that  they 
believe  there  is  a  thing  in  men  bad  enough  to 
be  called  by  the  hardest  names  they  can  find 
or  invent.  To  this  conviction  of  the  enormity 
of  sin  did  Theodore  Parker  unwittingly  tes- 
tify, when,  with  a  disgust  and  bitterness  quite 
inexpressible,  he  denounced  the  "Christian 
doctrine  of  sin  as  the  devil's  own,"  and  said, 
f?  I  hate  it,  —  hate  it  utterly." 

The  developments  of  sin  in  this  day  of  light 
are  so  obvious,  that  there  is  no  occasion  for 
special  remark  concerning  them  in  this  con- 
nection. 

The  gospel  doctrine  of  sin  naturally  carries 


28         THE   DOCTRINES   HIGH  ENOUGH 

with  it  the  doctrine  of  retribution.  So  great  a 
wrong  and  evil  deserves  corresponding  treat- 
ment. When  we  know  what  sin  is,  we  are 
prepared  to  read,  "The  wages  of  sin  is  death." 
"  Tribulation  and  anguish  upon  every  soul  of 
man  that  doeth  evil.''  "These  shall  go  away 
into  everlasting  punishment."  And  this  verdict 
of  the  gospel  is  confirmed  by  the  discoveries 
made  in  the  domain  of  nature.  Not  only  is  the 
sweep  of  penalty  here  often  tremendous  and 
remediless,  but  the  operation  of  the  destructive 
force  is  secret  and  mysterious.  The  blow  comes 
without  warning,  and  from  a  quarter  where  no 
danger  was  suspected.  And  when  its  work  is 
finished,  neither  the  beginning  nor  the  method 
can  be  discovered.  When  the  worshippers  of 
nature  have  explained  these  mysteries,  it  will 
be  soon  enough  for  them  to  cry  out  against  the 
retribution  of  the  gospel  as  an  offence  to  their 
enlightenment.  Greater  things  ought  to  be 
expected  in  the  domain  of  the  moral  and  the 
spiritual. 

In  keeping  with  the  gospel  doctrines  of  sin 
and   retribution  is  its  doctrine  of  redemption. 


FOR    THE   RIPEST  INTELLIGENCE.       29 

Nothing  less  than  a  divine  Saviour  can  answer 
the  cry  of  a  soul  burdened  with  the  intelligent 
conviction  of  sin,  nothing  less  than  expiation 
by  the  blood  of  His  cross  can  quell  the  fears 
of  a  soul  looking  for  the  due  reward  of  its 
deeds.  The  conceit  that  sin  may  be  forgiven 
without  an  atonement  is  a  shallow  thought ;  it 
comes  not  of  deep  views  of  moral  government, 
or  the  demands  and  working  of  the  human 
conscience.  The  more  men  see  of  their  own 
needs,  the  more  do  they  admire  the  way  of  sal- 
vation through  Jesus  Christ.  And  it  becomes 
men,  wise  in  their  own  esteem,  to  beware  how 
they  undervalue  the  wisdom  of  that  scheme 
which  angels  desire  to  look  into.  Vicarious 
sacrifice  is  not  a  heathen  conception,  nor  the 
clumsy  expedient  of  a  rude  age,  but  God's  own 
method  for  the  vindication  of  His  authority,  and 
the  deliverance  of  men  from  the  curse  of  His 
law.  w  Other  foundation  can  no  man  lay  than 
that  is  laid,  which  is  Jesus  Christ."  And  other 
foundation  can  no  man  have  occasion  to  use, 
however  vast  his  knowledge,  or  fearful  his  con- 
sciousness of  guilt. 


3°         THE   DOCTRINES   HIGH  ENOUGH 

The  gospel  furnishes  the  true  and  the  only 
true  philosophy  of  existence.  The  great  and 
dark  problems,  which  have  in  all  ages  perplexed 
the  minds  of  men,  find  their  solution  here.  Not 
refinements  of  speculation,  but  solid  answers  to 
the  cry  of  the  soul  for  light  upon  the  end  of  its 
existence,  its  destiny,  and  the  reasons  of  the 
changes  which  pass  over  it,  are  here  furnished. 
Comte  may  declare  that  r'  human  knowledge  is 
the  result  of  the  study  of  the  forces  belonging 
to  matter,  and  of  the  conditions  or  laws  govern- 
ing those  forces."  "  The  fundamental  character 
of  positive  philosophy  is,  that  it  regards  all 
phenomena  as  subjected  to  invariable  natural 
laws,  and  considers  as  absolutely  inaccessible 
to  us,  and  as  having  no  sense  for  us,  every 
inquiry  into  what  is  termed  either  primary  or 
final  causes."  And  George  Henry  Lewes,  sit- 
ting at  his  feet,  and  extolling  him  as  the  wisest 
teacher  of  time,  may  affirm  that  philosophy  in 
any  other  sense  is  impossible  ;  that  men,  if  they 
travel  out  of  this  course,  are  doomed  ever  to 
come  back  to  the  point  from  whence  they 
started.     But  we  must  think  there   was  riper 


FOR    THE   RIPEST  INTELLIGENCE.       31 

thought,  as  well  as  higher  wisdom,  in  the 
answer  of  Schelling  in  his  old  age  to  one  who 
asked  him,  "What  is  the  principle  and,  so  to 
speak,  the  key-note  of  the  harmony  of  revela- 
tion with  philosophy?"  His  reply  was  in  the 
words  of  the  great  apostle  :  "For  of  Him,  and 
through  Him,  and  to  Him,  are  all  things,  to 
whom  be  glory  for  ever.  Amen."  Then  he 
added  :  "  There  is  the  foundation  and  the  last 
word  of  philosophy." 

How  long  will  those  who  aspire  to  be  phi- 
losophers, in  the  highest  sense,  continue  to 
repeat  the  exploded  error  of  astronomers  in 
adhering  to  the  geocentric  theory  of  the  uni- 
verse? How  long  will  they  refuse  to  know 
that  the  true  philosophy  of  the  world,  men- 
tally and  morally  considered,  has  its  centre  in 
Christ?  His  appearing  in  our  world  was  not 
an  accident  of  that  day,  but  the  manifestation 
of  the  great  purpose  for  which  the  world  was 
made.  His  life  was  the  ruling  period  of  time. 
Philosophy  will  never  be  complete,  never  make 
legitimate  progress,  except  as  it  is  pursued 
from  this  centre,   and  under   the  influence  of 


32  THE   DOCTRINES,   dbc. 

this  truth.  Any  philosophy,  worthy  of  the 
name,  must  recognize  and  duly  honor  "  God 
manifest  in  the  flesh,"  the  grand  central  Power 
which  in  every  age  shapes  the  course  of  his- 
tory. 


A   RULE    OF  ACTION,   &c.  33 


IV. 


A    RULE    OF    ACTION    DEMANDING    AND    PRO- 
MOTING INTELLIGENCE. 


HPHE  great  principles  of  moral  action  set 
forth  in  the  gospel  are  unchangeable. 
But  the  mode  and  measure  of  their  application, 
in  particular  cases,  is  left  very  much  to  our 
individual  judgment.  Love  to  God  and  men 
embraces  the  whole  compass  of  our  duties. 
But  in  what  ways  this  love  shall  be  expressed 
is  not  prescribed,  except  in  a  few  leading  par- 
ticulars. Prayer  is  one  prescribed  method  of 
honoring  God.  And  some  models  of  prayer 
are  furnished.  But  we  are  not  shut  up  to  the 
use  of  these  models.  We  may  frame  our  own 
speech,  and  ask  for  such  things  as  we  judge 
most  suitable  to  our  circumstances.  We  are 
required  to  remember  the  sabbath-day  and 
3 


34  A   RULE    OF  ACTION 

keep  it  holy.  But  what  specific  actions  are  to 
be  done  on  that  day  we  must  judge  for  our- 
selves, in  view  of  the  end  to  be  answered  and 
the  facilities  provided.  We  must  love  our 
neighbors  as  ourselves.  But  to  which  of  them 
we  should  give  money  or  other  aid,  and  to 
what  extent,  we  must  decide  for  ourselves,  in 
view  of  their  necessities  and  our  ability.  It  is 
taken  for  granted  that  the  right  principle  in 
the  heart,  and  the  proper  use  of  the  intelli- 
gence, bestowed  or  acquired,  together  with 
such  increase  of  wisdom  as  may  be  obtained 
in  answer  to  prayer,  may  be  safely  trusted  to 
regulate  these  details  of  daily  duty. 

And  we  can  but  mark  a  great  difference  in 
this  regard  between  the  earlier  and  the  later 
prescriptions  of  Holy  Writ.  The  Mosaic  insti- 
tutes abound  in  minute  specifications.  They 
fixed  the  place  of  worship,  the  time,  order,  and 
amount  of  the  daily  offerings.  They  named 
the  precise  penalty  for  a  great  number  of  trans- 
gressions. That  mode  of  procedure  was  fitted 
for  days  of  comparative  ignorance  and  depend- 
ence.    The  church  was  then  in  the  condition 


PROMOTING   INTELLIGENCE.  35 

of  a  child,  who  "is  under  tutors  and  governors 
until  the  time  appointed  of  the  father."  But 
when  that  first  covenant,  not  faultless,  passed 
away,  the  child  was  advanced  from  the  con- 
dition of  a  servant  to  that  of  a  son.  The  yoke 
of  ceremonial  prescription  was  taken  off,  and 
principles  implanted  in  the  heart  were  left  com- 
paratively free  to  work  themselves  out  in  such 
details  as  might  best  serve  their  great  purpose. 
Our  Saviour  claimed  to  be  Lord  of  the  sabbath- 
day,  and  He  did  not  scruple  to  do  some  things, 
and  permit  His  disciples  to  do  some  things, 
which  offended  the  strict  legalists  of  His  da}T. 
He  taught  that  the  new  wine  must  not  be  put 
into  the  old  bottles. 

Now  this  gospel  liberty,  this  flexible  rule  of 
action,  —  flexible  not  in  principle,  but  in  the 
application  according  to  the  exigencies  of  each 
case  as  apprehended  by  the  best  wisdom  of  the 
agent,  —  commends  itself  to  the  intelligence  of 
mankind.  It  stimulates  our  self-respect.  It 
gives  us  credit  for  knowing  something,  of  being 
able  of  ourselves,  in  one  sense,  to  judge  what 
is  right.     We  are  thus  treated  not  as  children 


36  A   RULE    OF  ACTION 

in  understanding  bat  as  men.  And  the  neces- 
sity of  determining  the  bounds  and  steps  of  our 
duty,  in  many  things,  requires  of  us  careful 
study,  the  most  earnest  exercise  of  our  intelli- 
gence. It  may  be  a  convenience  for  an  ignorant 
man  to  have  a  fixed  rate  of  his  duties,  to  be  told 
just  what  and  how  many  prayers  to  repeat', 
and  just  how  much  money  to  spend  for  religion 
and  charity.  But  it  may  be  safely  asserted 
that  such  a  man  will  remain  ignorant,  or  make 
but  slow  progress  in  knowledge.  The  gospel 
is  a  fountain  of  light,  and  he  who  receives  it  in 
spirit  and  in  truth  becomes  qualified  for  judging 
of  his  duty,  as  otherwise  he  could  not  be.  "  He 
that  is  spiritual  discerneth  all  things."  "The 
commandment  of  the  Lord  is  pure,  enlightening 
the  eyes." 

And  if  it  be  objected  that  with  such  a  rule 
of  action,  throwing  us  so  often  upon  our  own 
judgment,  and  demanding  our  most  careful 
thought  to  give  it  the  best  application,  the 
uninstructed  must  often  fall  into  great  and  dis- 
astrous  errors,  we  may  reply  in  the  words 
of  the  apostle  :  "  If  there  first  be  a  willing  mind, 


PROMOTING   INTELLIGENCE.  37 

it  is  accepted  according  to  what  a  man  hath, 
and  not  according  to  that  he  hath  not."  And 
we  may  further  say,  that  the  mistakes  which  a 
conscientious  man  makes  in  trying  to  find  out 
his  duty  are  not  the  least  valuable  part  of  his 
education.  And  one  who  distrusts  his  own 
competence  to  judge,  will  not  ordinarily  hesi- 
tate to  ask  the  advice  of  those  better  informed. 
And  never,  if  he  is  sincerely  desirous  of  know- 
ing his  duty,  will  he  fail  to  "  ask  wisdom  of 
God,  who  giveth  unto  all  men  liberally,  and 
upbraideth  not;  and  it  shall  be  given  him." 
It  is  taken  for  granted,  that  those  who  receive 
the  gospel  will  not  remain  willingly  ignorant, 
but  search  the  Scriptures,  and  use  all  available 
means  for  understanding  the  way  of  the  Lord 
more  perfectly.  He  who  is  not  disposed  to  do 
this,  is  not  worthy  to  be  called  a  disciple  of 
Christ,  no  matter  how  long  he  may  have  been 
in  communion  with  an  organization  calling 
itself  the  church  of  Christ. 


3§  METHOD    OF   OPERATION. 


V. 


METHOD  OF  OPERATION,  INTELLECTUAL  AND 
SPIRITUAL. 

/CHRISTIANITY  contemplates  the  growth 
of  its  adherents  in  every  virtue,  and  the 
accession  of  many  that  are  without.  By  what 
means  does  it  aim  to  secure  these  ends?  Prima- 
rily and  chiefly  by  the  preaching  of  the  gospel. 
"  Now  after  that  John  was  put  into  prison,  Jesus 
came  into  Galilee,  preaching  the  gospel  of  the 
kingdom  of  God."  "From  that  time  Jesus 
began  to  preach,  and  say,  Repent:  for  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand."  And  when 
His  earthly  ministry  was  finished,  He  said  to 
His  disciples,  "All  power  is  given  unto  me  in 
heaven  and  in  earth.  Go  ye,  therefore,  and 
teach  all  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  name 
of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy 


INTELLECTUAL   AND   SPIRITUAL.         39 

Ghost ;  teaching  them  to  observe  all  things 
whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you."  Imme- 
diately after  His  ascension,  one  was  chosen  in 
the  place  of  Judas  Iscariot,  to  be  with  the  other 
apostles  "  a  witness  of  His  resurrection."  When 
the  great  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  was  called  to 
his  high  office,  and  sent  "to  open  their  eyes 
and  turn  them  from  darkness  unto  light,"  he 
"showed  first  unto  them  of  Damascus,  and  at 
Jerusalem,  and.  throughout  all  the  coasts  of 
Judea,  and  then  to  the  Gentiles,  that  they 
should  repent  and  turn  to  God,  and  do  works 
meet  for  repentance."  Twenty-five  years  later, 
it  was  his  joy  to  remember  and  assert  that, 
from  Jerusalem  and  round  about  unto  Illyri- 
cum,  he  had  fully  -preached  the  gospel  of 
Christ."  To  the  Corinthians  he  wrote,  ''Christ 
sent  me  not  to  baptize,  but  to  preach  the  gos- 
pel." Here  is  his  estimate  of  rites,  even  those 
of  Christ's  appointing,  in  comparison  with  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel.  Of  arts  and  tricks  to 
impose  upon  the  credulity  of  men  he  knew 
nothing,  but  to  despise  and  abhor.  "We  have 
renounced  the  hidden  things  of  dishonestv,  not 


4°  METHOD    OF   OPERATION, 

walking  in  craftiness,  nor  handling  the  word 
of  God  deceitfully  ;  but  by  manifestation  of  the 
truth,  commending  ourselves  to  every  man's 
conscience  in  the  sight  of  God."  Miracles 
were  to  some  extent  also  employed  in  those 
days.  But  the  object  of  these  was  to  prepare 
the  way  for  the  reception  of  the  gospel.  And 
when  any  required  miracles,  merely  for  the 
gratification  of  an  idle  curiosity,  they  were 
denied.  And  after  Christianity  was  established 
miracles  ceased.  Men  were  then  shut  up  to 
the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  and  the  two  simple 
rites  which  Christ  ordained,  —  Baptism  and  the 
Lord's  Supper. 

But  many  who  professed  conversion,  did  not 
long  remain  content  with  these  simple  means 
of  instruction  and  edification.  The  ordinances 
were  grossly  perverted,  and  to  them  was 
ascribed  a  regenerating  power.  Other  rites, 
and  ceremonies  without  end,  were  added,  to 
dazzle  the  senses  and  charm  the  taste  of  unre- 
flecting and  unrenewed  men.  Thus  the  number 
of  nominal  adherents  was  rapidly  multiplied. 
And   by  and   by  the  preaching  of  the  gospel 


INTELLECTUAL   AND   SPIRITUAL.         41 

ceased.  Then  the  dark  ages  came  in,  and 
hung  their  pall  of  death  over  the  nations. 
Force  also  became  a  favorite  instrument  for 
effecting  conversions  and  preventing  apostasy. 
The  sword  of  the  State  was  more  in  requisition 
than  the  sword  of  the  Spirit.  This  was  not 
according  to  the  instructions  of  Christ.  His 
way  of  discipling  the  nations  was  by  teaching 
them,  by  appointing  chosen  men  to  tell  them 
the  story  of  the  Lord,  to  preach  among  them 
the  unsearchable  riches  of  His  wisdom,  love, 
and  grace.  And  since  preaching  has  been 
restored  to  its  appointed  place  in  the  Protestant 
church,  a  new  era  for  the  intelligence  of  man- 
kind has  opened  upon  the  world. 

One  still  standing  among  us  has  paid  a  fitting 
tribute  to  the  intelligence  of  an  earlier  genera- 
tion in  our  Commonwealth,  whom  he  represents 
as  content  to  sit  without  fire,  in  an  open  house, 
long  hours  in  the  drear  winter  time,  listening  to 
the  word  of  life.  His  words  are:  ''There  is 
no  affectation  of  seriousness  in  the  assembly, 
no  mannerism  of  worship  ;  some  would  say  too 
little  of  the  manner  of  worship.     They  think 


42  METHOD    OF   OPERATION, 

of  nothing,  in  fact,  save  what  meets  their  intel- 
ligence, and  enters  into  them  by  that  method. 
They  appear  like  men,  who  have  a  digestion 
for  strong  meat,  and  have  no  conception  that 
trifles  more  delicate  can  be  of  any  account  to 
feed  the  system.  .  .  .  Under  their  hard  and,  as 
some  would  say,  stolid  faces,  great  thoughts 
are  brewing,  and  these  keep  them  warm. 
Free-will,  fixed  fate,  foreknowledge  absolute, 
trinity,  redemption,  special  grace,  —  give  them 
any  thing  high  enough,  and  the  tough  muscle 
o{  their  inward  man  will  be  climbing  sturdily 
into  it ;  and  if  they  go  away  having  something 
to  think  of,  they  have  had  a  good  day.  A  per- 
ceptible glow  will  kindle  in  their  hard  faces, 
only  when  some  one  of  the  chief  apostles  — 
a  Day,  a  Smith,  or  a  Bellamy  —  has  come  to 
lead  them  up  some  higher  pinnacle  of  thought, 
or  pile  upon  their  sturdy  mind  some  heavier 
weight  of  argument." 

A  noble  generation  of  men,  and  worthily 
commended  to  the  study  and  imitation  of  these 
softer  and  more  graceful  days.  Would  that  an 
intelligence  not  less  sturdy,  in  spiritual  things, 


IXTELLECTUAL   AND   SPIRITUAL.        43 

were  blended  with  the  refinements  of  this  age. 
Is  there  not  in  many  places  occasion  for  the 
rebuke  administered  to  the  Hebrews?  "When 
for  the  time  ye  ought  to  be  teachers,  ye  have 
need  that  one  teach  you  again  which  be  the 
first  principles  of  the  oracles  of  God,  and  are 
become  such  as  have  need  of  milk  and  not  of 
strong  meat."  Is  not  this  the  explanation  of  the 
recent  rapid  growth  of  ritualism? 

It  is  true,  historically,  that  ritualism  lias 
flourished  greatly  in  times  of  general  igno- 
rance. A  barbarous  people  can  appreciate  its 
gorgeous  displays.  And  the  low  degree  of  gen- 
eral culture  among  the  chosen  people  may  be 
one  principal  reason  why  the  appointments  for 
the  tabernacle  and  temple  were  so  magnificent. 
A  further  reason  may  have  been,  to  show  the 
world  the  unsatisfying  nature  of  the  experi- 
ment. It  is  quite  certain  that,  in  the  early  days 
of  Christianity,  no  account  was  made  of  such 
things.  They  were  not  only  not  relied  upon, 
but  they  were  discarded.  Christ  took  upon 
Himself  the  form  of  a  servant,  and  made  Him- 
self of  no  reputation.     He  would  not  be  made 


44  METHOD    OF   OPERATION, 

a  king.  The  first  disciples  and  apostles  were 
plain  fishermen.  The  great  apostle  shunned 
the  brilliant  rhetoric  of  his  day.  But  if  Chris- 
tianity ever  needed  the  aid  of  an  imposing 
ceremonial,  it  was  at  the  outset.  But  then  it 
was  utterly  rejected,  and  it  ought  to  be  dis- 
carded to  the  end  of  the  world.  Let  it  be 
attached  to  false  religions  that  have  nothing 
else  to  recommend  them  to  the  acceptance  of 
mankind,  or  be  remembered  as  an  adjunct 
of  an  imperfect  system,  which  God  meant  only 
for  the  childhood  of  the  race,  adopted  as  a 
temporary  and  preparatory  expedient  until  the 
times  of  the  reformation.  The  modern  apostles 
of  ritualism  offer  an  affront  to  the  intelligence 
of  this  age,  while  they  obscure  the  glory  of  the 
cross.  The  gospel  asks  no  such  service  at 
their  hands,  while  discerning  minds  reject  it  as 
a  degradation  of  the  religion  it  professes  to 
honor,  and  a  fearful  wrong  to  the  souls  it 
attempts  to  guide.  God's  truth  shines  by  its 
own  supernal  brightness,  for  low  and  high,  for 
the  ignorant  and  the  learned,  crthe  light  of  the 
knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of 


INTELLECTUAL   AND   SPIRITUAL.         45 

Jesus  Christ."  It  asks  not  the  poor  candles 
of  human  invention  to  help  it  irradiate  the 
world.  Away  with  these  rush-lights,  these 
robes  curiously  wrought,  these  censers  and  pro- 
cessions, away  with  every  thing  which  comes 
between  the  simple  truth  of  the  gospel  and  the 
minds  and  hearts  of  men,  who  must  be  saved 
by  the  intelligent  apprehension  and  the  hearty 
reception  of  it,  or  be  lost  for  ever.  Christianity 
has  indeed  its  symbolism,  but  it  is  the  very 
essence  of  simplicity  and  transparency, — water 
for  baptism  into  the  name  of  Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Ghost ;  bread  and  wine  for  showing  forth 
the  Lord's  death  until  He  comes  ;  the  word  of 
truth  for  correction  and  instruction  in  righteous- 
ness. These  address  directly  and  powerfully 
the  intelligence  of  men. 

But  the  gospel  method  of  operation  is  not  of 
the  intellectual  order  only.  It  is  also  spiritual. 
The  gospel  does  indeed  invite  and  demand  the 
thoughtful  attention,  the  candid,  earnest,  per- 
sistent consideration  of  men,  but  it  does  not 
rest  upon  this  method  alone.  In  fact  no  vital 
change  is  expected  without  the  power  of  the 


46  METHOD    OF   OPERATION,   &c. 

Holy  Ghost.  It  is  most  agreeable  to  reason 
that  He,  who  made  the  mind,  should  have  full 
access  to  it,  and  know  how  to  work  changes 
in  it.  And  according  to  the  Scriptures,  the 
most  radical  change  which  is  ever  made  in  it, 
is  wrought  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  He  who  created 
can  renew.  But  this  renewal,  by  a  special 
exercise  of  divine  power,  is  not  independent  of 
the  truth.  The  sword  of  the  Spirit  is  the  word 
of  God.  The  heirs  of  eternal  life  are  chosen 
to  salvation  through  sanctification  of  the  Spirit 
and  belief  of  the  truth.  It  was  when  the  apos- 
tles preached,  that  the  Holy  Ghost  fell  on  them 
which  heard  the  word.  This  combined  power 
of  the  word,  and  the  Inspirer  of  the  word, 
must  not  only  be  the  most  efficient  possible,  but 
also  commend  itself  to  the  reflecting  mind  as 
the  most  fit  and  worthy  agency  for  reaching 
and  transforming,  for  enlightening,  subduing, 
elevating,  and  perfecting  men. 


THE  HISTORIC  DEMONSTRATION.       47 


VI. 

THE   HISTORIC   DEMONSTRATION. 

TT  surely  is  reasonable  to  ask  that,  in  the 
course  of  eighteen  centuries,  the  gospel 
should  accomplish  something  worthy  of  its 
claims.  The  time  has  been  long  enough  for 
a  conclusive  demonstration.  And  this  we  hold 
has  been  given.  We  freely  admit  that,  as  yet, 
it  has  gained  the  adhesion  of  only  a  fraction  of 
the  race.  But  the  explanation  of  this  fact  is 
found  in  the  nature  of  its  appeal.  It  does  not 
come  upon  men  with  an  overwhelming  force, 
but  comes  to  them  with  considerations  of  reason 
and  truth,  with  motives  which  they  may  either 
receive  or  reject.  They  may  even  resist  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  He  will  leave  them  to  their 
own  chosen  ways.  The  native  bias  of  the 
heart  is  opposed  to  the  gospel.     All  the  prog- 


4^        THE  HISTORIC  DEMONSTRATION. 

ress  it  has  made  in  the  world  has  been  in  the 
way  of  conquest,  overcoming  that  toughest  of 
all  resistants,  human  depravity.  If  men,  or 
generations,  in  the  pride  of  their  self-will,  and 
the  love  of  sinful  pleasures,  would  none  of  it, 
so  much  the  worse  for  them  ;  but  this  detracts 
nothing  from  its  inherent  worth.  If  God,  in 
view  of  their  perversity,  gave  them  over  to  a 
reprobate  mind,  this  is  no  impeachment  of  His 
goodness,  and  their  doom  is  no  reflection  upon 
the  grace  which  would  have  saved  them,  if 
they  would  have  received  it.  This  grace 
would  be  infinitely  glorious  if  all  men  should 
reject  it. 

And  yet,  as  a  practical  scheme  of  redemp- 
tion, the  gospel  must  be  declared  a  failure, 
unless  it  can  be  shown  that  it  has  won  many 
and  substantial  triumphs.  A  vast  multitude 
have  embraced  it,  and  given  the  highest  pos- 
sible evidence  of  their  sincerity  in  so  doing. 
The  Acts  of  the  Apostles  herald  its  early  vic- 
tories. And  they  tell  us  what  manner  of  men 
those  became  who  received  it.  They  continued 
steadfastly  in  the  truth  and  worship  of  Christ, 


THE  HISTORIC  DEMONSTRATION.       49 

and  sold  their  possessions  and  goods,  and  parted 
them  to  all  men  as  they  had  need.  In  later 
days,  impurities  came  in  to  disturb  the  course 
of  its  history.  And  the  written  annals  of  the 
church  may  have  preserved  more  of  her  con- 
troversies and  mistakes,  than  of  her  truthful 
inculcations  and  her  benefactions.  But  even  in 
her  worst  estate,  she  was  doing  signal  service 
for  mankind.  Her  noble  army  of  martys  can 
never  be  forgotten.  Her  work,  in  preserving 
both  secular  and  sacred  learning,  can  hardly 
be  too  highly  prized.  Nations  of  barbarians 
have  been  tamed  and  civilized  by  the  power 
of  the  cross.  The  habitations  of  cruelty  have 
been  transformed  into  the  abodes  of  charity 
and  peace.  Altars  wet  with  human  blood 
have  been  thrown  down,  and  temples  conse- 
crated to  Jehovah  have  been  reared  up  in  their 
stead.  Asylums  for  the  unfortunate  and  the 
wretched  have  been  opened  in  many  lands. 
Prisons  have  lost  their  tortures,  and  slaves 
have  been  delivered  from  their  fetters.  Gov- 
ernments have* learned  the  humanities  of  their 
office,  and  peoples  the  sacredness  of  their  rights. 
4 


50       THE  HISTORIC  DEMONSTRATION. 

Homes  and  schools  and  churches  have  been 
made  the  nurseries  of  learning,  piety,  philan- 
thropy, all  the  graces  of  refinement,  all  the 
fruits  of  civilization.  And  the  blessed  work 
wrought  in  individual  souls  cannot  be  named 
or  estimated.  What  righteousness,  what  peace, 
what  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost !  What  zeal  in 
life,  what  transports  in  a  dying  hour  !  And 
there  is  to-day  a  great  army,  toiling  in  patience, 
waiting  in  hope,  praying  in  faith,  looking  with 
confidence,  for  the  overthrow  of  all  wickedness, 
and  the  perfect  establishment  of  righteousness 
and  peace  in  all  the  earth.  It  were  easy  to 
speak  of  wrongs  in  the  past  and  defects  in  the 
present.  But  in  spite  of  these,  we  maintain 
that  the  adherents  of  the  gospel,  the  true  dis- 
ciples of  Christ,  as  a  body,  are  in  the  van  of 
all  movements  calculated  to  restore  man  to 
himself,  his  true  place  in  society,  and  his  alle- 
giance to  God.  Others  may  be  more  boastful 
in  pretensions,  more  extreme  in  expedients, 
more  fierce  in  invectives,  more  violent  in  dem- 
onstrations, but  the  great  burden  of  the  real 
work  of  renewing  the  face  of  the  earth  rests 


THE  HISTORIC  DEMONSTRATION.       51 

upon  the  shoulders  of  the  army  enlisted  under 
Christ.  The  path  of  the  gospel  through  the 
ages  has  been  a  track  of  light,  and  notwith- 
standing all  the  errors  and  impurities  and 
wrongs  which  have  taken  shelter  under  the 
name  of  the  church,  and  all  the  prejudice 
raised  thereby  against  the  cause  of  Christ,  we 
believe  that  it  will  lead  right  on  and  upward, 
till  He  shall  be  enthroned  over  the  nations,  and 
all  nations  shall  be  blessed  in  Him. 


AFFINITY    WITH 


VII. 

AFFINITY    WITH    ALL    TRUE    CULTURE    AND 
EXCELLENCE. 

TT  has  not  been  uncommon  to  represent  Chris- 
tianity  as  hostile  to  many  other  forms  of  the 
good,  the  true,  and  the  beautiful.  And  occa- 
sion has  been  found  in  the  manner  in  which 
some  Christians  have  spoken  of  and  treated 
these  things.  They  may  have  erred,  but  it 
is  quite  as  likely  that  they  have  been  mis- 
understood. It  is  common  for  evangelical 
preachers  to  speak  of  the  total  depravity  of 
unrenewed  men,  notwithstanding  all  the  pleas- 
ing and  commendable  traits  which  they  may 
possess.  This  sort  of  language  does  not  deny 
that  for  some  purposes  the  natural  virtues,  as 
they  are  called,  are  good  and  useful.  But  it 
declares  that  in  the  matter  of  justification  before 


ALL    TRUE    CULTURE.  53 

God  they  are  of  no  account  whatever,  inasmuch 
as  the  radical  principle  of  action  is  utterly  want- 
ing in  that  regard  for  God  and  His  will  and 
glory,  which  is  the  very  essence  of  holiness. 
Repentance  toward  God,  and  faith  in  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  are  insisted  upon  first  of  all,  not 
as  arbitrary  terms  of  salvation,  but  as  involving 
the  new  and  holy  principle  from  which  right 
actions  will  proceed.  None  can  be  more  ear- 
nest than  the  preachers  of  total  depravity,  in 
exhorting  believers  to  "maintain  good  works 
for  necessary  uses."  If  Luther  was  afraid  of 
the  Epistle  of  James,  because  he  read  in  it, 
"Ye  see  then  how  that  by  works  a  man  is  jus- 
tified, and  not  by  faith  only,"  this  must  be 
put  to  the  account  of  his  want  of  completeness 
in  the  knowledge  of  God,  a  want  which  can 
surprise  no  man,  who  thoughtfully  considers 
the  errors  of  doctrine  and  practice  so  rife  in  his 
day.  It  is  rather  to  be  wondered  at  that  he 
came  so  near  complete  emancipation  from  the 
falsehoods  and  abuses  in  which  he  was  trained. 
Good  works,  in  their  proper  place,  cannot  well 
be  magnified  more  than  they  are  in  the  gospel, 


5+  AFFINITY    WITH 

while  it  does  not  ascribe  to  them  an  importance 
in  other  relations,  which  must  utterly  disap- 
point those  who  trust  in  them. 

It  is  common  for  a  certain  class  of  writers 
and  speakers  to  declaim^  against  the  church  as 
a  stickler  for  dead  dogmas,  but  indifferent  to 
the  great  practical  issues  of  the  day.  To  this 
accusation  we  have  three  replies.  First,  for 
the  most  part  it  is  false.  In  the  main,  the 
church  —  the  living,  evangelical  church  —  is, 
to  say  the  least,  abreast  of  any  other  body  of 
progressive  men  in  matters  of  reform.  In  some 
matters  of  innovation,  which  are  not  of  reform, 
the  church  is  quite  willing  that  others  should 
do  the  work  and  reap  the  reward.  When  it 
comes  to  giving  and  doing  and  suffering  and 
dying  for  a  worthy  object,  the  hosts  of  the 
church  will  not  be  found  wanting,  as  compared 
with  any  other  body  of  men.  So  long  as  there 
is  nothing  but  speaking  to  be  done,  other  voices 
may  perhaps  be  louder  than  hers. 

Our  second  reply  is,  that  the  church  has 
always  in  hand  a  greater  work  than  what  are 
called  the  issues  of  the  day.      In  her  view,  to 


ALL    TRUE    CULTURE.  55 

save  a  soul  from  death,  and  hide  a  multitude 
of  sins,  is  greater  than  to  save  a  kingdom  from 
anarchy  or  despotism  ;  to  put  a  man  in  the  way 
to  heaven,  is  better  than  to  lavish  upon  him  all 
the  treasures  of  wealth  and  liberty  and  learning. 
First,  the  kingdom  of  God  and  His  righteous- 
ness ;  then  all  other  good  things  as  there  may 
be  opportunity  for  gaining  and  using  them 
consistently  with  the  great  commanding  pur- 
pose. 

Our  third  answer  is,  that  the  fundamental 
work  of  the  church  is  the  most  reliable  support, 
the  most  efficient  promoter,  of  every  good  thing 
in  man  and  in  society.  Regenerated  men  are 
the  best  material  and  the  best  instruments  for 
any  great  undertaking,  or  for  any  worthy  enter- 
prise that  is  not  great,  —  whether  you  would 
build  a  character,  a  home,  a  literature,  or  a 
nation.  First,  get  the  man  right  in  his  views 
of  the  great  end  of  life,  in  his  spirit,  in  his  feel- 
ing of  brotherhood  with  all  the  race,  in  his 
consciousness  of  fellowship  with  God,  —  then 
will  his  own  invigorated  faculties  find  out  a  way 
of  rendering  service  to  his  kind  ;   then  will  his 


5 6  AFFINITY    WITH 

own  ever-gushing  impulses  urge  him  onward 
in  a  career  of  self-denial,  toil,  endurance,  honor, 
usefulness.  He  is  jit  for  a  friend,  a  neighbor, 
a  citizen,  a  philanthropist.  He  will  build  on 
the  everlasting  foundations,  and  his  work  in 
substance  shall  abide,  no  matter  how  many 
nor  what  sort  of  revolutions  may  assail  it.  The 
form  only  can  ever  pass  away.  With  very 
defective  political  and  social  institutions,  he 
will  do  better  for  himself  and  for  humanity 
than  one,  who  knows  nothing  of  true  gospel 
power,  in  his  own  experience,  can  possibly  do 
with  the  most  perfect  organizations  ;  and  at  the 
same  time,  he  will  make  sure  and  steady  prog- 
ress toward  the  reformation  of  those  faulty 
institutions. 

Follow  the  missionary  of  the  Cross  from  his 
Christian  home  to  his  chosen  field  of  self-denial 
among  the  heathen.  Mark  the  despotism,  the 
ignorance,  the  superstition,  the  degradation, 
the  barbarism,  which  confront  him  at  every 
step.  Tarry  with  him  till  lie  grows  old  in 
the  service,  and  forgets  his  mother  tongue. 
Observe  now  the  chancre  in  his  field  of  labor. 


ALL    TRUE    CULTURE.  57 

The  government  has  learned  to  respect  the 
rights  of  conscience.  The  people  have  become 
industrious  and  moral.  The  idol  shrines  are 
forsaken.  The  house  of  God  is  filled  with  rev- 
erent worshippers.  Falsehood,  theft,  violence, 
have  disappeared.  Charity,  with  open  hand, 
feeds  the  hungry,  relieves  the  distressed.  The 
solitary  place  is  glad,  the  desert  blossoms  as 
the  rose.  This  is  gospel  work,  the  work  of 
men  who  hold,  and  who  find  all  their  inspira- 
ti  >n  in,  the  grand  old  doctrines  which  some 
are  pleased  to  call  the  antiquated  rubbish  of  a 
metaphysical  or  controversial,  not  a  practical 
age. 

But  we  must  pass  on  to  look  at  this  matter 
in  other  relations.  Liberty  has  been  regarded 
among  enlightened  nations  as  one  of  the  great- 
est blessings.  With  the  progress  of  light  in 
this  century,  the  cry  for  liberty  has  waxed 
louder  and  louder.  Even  old  Spain,  the  home 
of  the  Inquisition,  is  beginning  to  hear  the  cry, 
and  to  feel  the  stirring  of  a  new  life  in  her 
darkened  soul.  Is  the  gospel  unfriendly  to 
this  cry?     Not  unless  it  means  liberty  to  bias- 


5§  AFFINITY   WITH 

pheme  the  name  of  God,  and  wage  war  upon 
the  dearest  rights  of  mankind.  Christ,  at  the 
very  outset,  proclaimed  deliverance  to  the  cap- 
tives, and  liberty  to  them  that  are  bruised. 
The  great  apostle  speaks  of  the  glorious  liberty 
of  the  children  of  God.  Where  does  liberty 
dispense  its  choicest  blessings  to-day?  In  Eng- 
land, Scotland,  and  these  United  States,  the 
most  nearly  Christian  countries  in  the  world, 
the  lands  in  which  true  gospel  preaching  has 
most  place  and  power.  Guizot  affirms  that  the 
comparative  histories  of  the  world,  whether 
Christian  or  Pagan,  place  it  beyond  all  doubt 
"that  Christianity  alone  restored  to  man,  as 
man,  and  for  no  other  reason,  his  rights  to 
liberty."  And  Farrar,  in  his  "History  of  Free 
Thought/'  declares  that  it  was  Milton,  that 
prince  of  Christian  poets  and  writers  upon  civil 
affairs,  "  who  first  enunciated  in  its  breadth  the 
principle  of  universal  religious  freedom  and 
liberty  of  conscience." 

The  love  of  the  beautiful  is  characteristic  of 
an  enlightened  age  or  people.  Does  the  gospel 
encourage   or  repress  it?     Had  we  space  we 


ALL    TRUE    CULTURE.  59 

might  pursue  this  inquiry  with  reference  to 
architecture,  sculpture,  painting,  poetry,  music, 
oratory,  and  general  refinement  or  elegance  in 
the  business,  courtesies,  and  enjoyments  of  life. 
But  a  particular  examination  of  this  wide  and 
inviting  field  is  obviously  quite  impracticable 
in  this  connection.  There  is  material  here  for 
a  volume,  by  which  some  true  disciple  of 
Christ  and  true  lover  of  Art  may  instruct  and 
enrich  his  generation.  There  is  room  in  this 
place  for  nothing  more  than  the  statement  and 
brief  defence  of  the  doctrine  in  general,  that 
the  gospel  favors  all  these  so  far  as  it  may 
without  detriment  to  its  grand  -purpose  —  the 
regeneration  of  the  world,  the  salvation  of  the 
soul. 

True  gospel  work  is  a  refining  process.  Its 
aim  is  perfect  moral  excellence.  Its  legitimate 
effect  in  all  other  relations  must  be  in  keeping 
with  this.  If  the  effect  is  ever  otherwise,  it 
must  be  ascribed  to  an  alien  element,  which  has 
come  in  to  disturb  the  normal  action  of  the  gos- 
pel. It  cannot,  however,  be  denied  that  those 
bearing  the  name   of  Christ   have   sometimes 


60  AFFINITY    WITH 

manifested  indifference,  or  even  hostility,  to  the 
creations  of  Art.  It  is  freely  allowed  that  the 
appearance  of  Christ,  and  the  style  of  the  great 
apostle,  did  not  indicate  any  ambition  for  artistic 
perfection.  And  some  may  recall  the  words 
of  Peter:  "Whose  adorning,  let  it  not  be  that 
outward  adorning  of  plaiting  the  hair,  and  of 
wearing  of  gold,  or  of  putting  on  apparel,  but 
let  it  be  the  hidden  man  of  the  heart,  in  that 
which  is  not  corruptible,  even  the  ornament 
of  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit,  which  is  in  the  sight 
of  God  of  great  price."  Not  a  few  passages  of 
like  tenor  may  be  gathered  out  of  the  word 
of  God.  In  explanation  of  these  things  two 
points  are  to  be  considered,  the  relative  impor- 
tance of  outward  graces,  and  the  disposition  of 
men  to  magnify  them  unduly.  As  compared 
with  the  graces  of  the  Spirit,  the  beauty  of  holi- 
ness, they  are  not  of  great  account.  And  if 
the  question  is,  Which  shall  be  sacrificed  for 
the  other?  there  can  be  no  hesitation  in  decid- 
ing that  the  less  must  yield  to  the  greater. 
And  the  truth  is,  that  men  are  so  readily  cap- 
tivated by  the  outward  and  the  sensuous,  that  it 


ALL    TRUE    CULTURE.  6 1 

is  ever  necessary  to  guard  against  its  encroach- 
ment upon  the  spiritual.  If  the  right  eye  offends, 
it  must  be  plucked  out ;  the  right  hand  be  cut  off. 
But  it  is  only  when  the  outward  withdraws 
attention  from  the  inward,  only  when  the  sen- 
suous obscures  the  spiritual,  that  there  is  occa- 
sion for  applying  this  precept  of  the  gospel. 
In  subordination,  all  these  graces  of  form, 
manner,  and  action,  may  minister  to  the  edify- 
ing of  the  body  of  Christ.  But  in  subordination 
they  must  be  kept,  or  put  away.  Whatever 
men  can  bear  with  safety  to  their  spiritual 
integrity,  progress,  and  usefulness,  they  are 
allowed  :  more  than  this  they  may  not  inno- 
cently desire. 

It  is  not  because  these  things  are  evil  in 
themselves,  but  because  we  are  prone  to  make 
a  god  of  them,  that  we  are  charged  to  take 
heed  lest  they  prove  a  snare  to  our  souls.  In 
a  perfect  state,  there  will  be  no  need  of  this 
caution.  The  thoroughly  sanctified  spirit  may 
go  in  and  out  among  the  fairest  creations  of 
even  divine  skill,  without  hindrance  or  abate- 
ment  of  its    delight.       The    New  Jerusalem, 


62  AFFINITY    WITH 

descending  out  of  heaven  from  God,  prepared 
as  a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband,  having  the 
glory  of  God,  is  the  perfection  of  beauty.  And 
this  shall  be  the  home  of  the  ransomed  for  ever. 
To  pass  through  its  pearly  gates,  to  gaze  at  its 
jasper  walls,  to  tread  its  golden  streets,  to  han- 
dle its  harps  and  palms  and  crowns,  to  hear  its 
mighty  voices  and  its  melodious  songs,  to  be 
surrounded  by  its  splendors  and  filled  with  its 
magnificence,  shall  be  the  portion  of  all  who 
"have  washed  their  robes,  and  made  them 
white,  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb."  It  shall  be 
their  portion,  because  for  them  it  will  be  safe. 
But  while  we  are  in  the  flesh,  we  must  consider 
what  and  how  much  we  can  bear  without 
prejudice  to  our  character,  and  our  hope  of 
everlasting  life. 

It  is  the  thought  of  some  that  paradise  restored 
would  end  our  wroes.  But  they  forget  that  all 
the  charms  of  Eden  kept  not  sin  out  of  the 
world.  If  the  innocent  fell,  in  the  midst  of  all 
these  delights,  how  can  we  think  that  plenty 
and  beauty  are  the  prime  necessity  of  fallen 
and  guilty  men?     No,  the  work  of  sin  must  be 


ALL    TRUE    CULTURE.  63 

undone,  the  world  renewed,  before  paradise 
can  be  safely  restored.  As  the  world  pro- 
gresses toward  the  sinless  state,  through  the 
rectifying  power  of  the  Cross,  the  outward  con- 
dition may,  with  safety,  increase  its  charms. 
But  while  the  church  is  in  deadly  conflict  with 
the  powers  of  darkness,  all  her  energies  should 
be  consecrated  to  her  work,  and  her  appear- 
ance that  of  one  girded  for  battle.  It  is  no 
time  to  sit  down  and  clothe  herself  in  holiday 
attire,  while  the  enemy  is  coming  in  like  a 
flood,  and  souls  are  pressing  down  to  death. 

When  our  Lord  began  his  ministry,  there 
was  no  lack  of  outward  splendor  in  church  or 
state.  The  temple  at  Jerusalem  was  blazing 
with  magnificence.  Athens  and  Rome  were 
filled  with  costly  shrines  and  beautiful  statues 
of  the  gods.  Poetry  produced  the  strains,  and 
eloquence  the  speeches,  which  the  world  is 
still  charmed  to  hear.  But  Jews,  Greeks, 
Romans,  and  barbarians,  were  alike  dead  in 
trespasses  and  sins.  Society  was  a  garnished 
sepulchre.  The  work  to  be  done  was  to  strip 
off  this   covering  of  deceit,  and   create   a  new 


64  AFFINITT   WITH 

life  in  the  centre  of  the  soul.  In  this  vital  work 
little  account  could  be  made  of  ornaments, 
which,  to  say  the  least,  would  not  help  the 
great  endeavor  ;  and  which,  in  consequence  of 
their  association  with  degrading  mythologies 
and  dead  formalism,  were  likely  either  to  ob- 
scure its  purpose  or  corrupt  its  adherents.  In 
the  great  crises  of  history  men  are  too  earnest, 
too  much  intent  upon  the  vital  issue  to  give 
much  indulgence  to  the  passion  for  the  beau- 
tiful. 

And  this  consideration  goes  far  to  explain 
the  fact  that,  in  some  departments  of  Art,  the 
old  masters  of  the  pagan  world  have  never  been 
surpassed.  While  we  do  not  admit  that,  all 
things  considered,  there  has  been  no  progress, 
no  development,  no  elevation  of  the  artistic 
idea,  under  the  reign  of  Christianity,  we  are 
willing  to  allow  that  in  some  departments,  like 
that  of  sculpture  for  example,  the  ancients  of 
the  ante-Christian  age  came  as  near  perfection 
as  any  of  a  later  day.  And  if  this  be  named 
as  a  reproach  to  the  gospel,,  our  answer  is  that 
the  great  concern  of  its  true  adherents  has  ever 


ALL    TRUE    CULTURE.  65 

been  not  to  make  faultless  statues,  dead  images, 
but  perfect  men,  alive  with  the  noblest  impulses, 
active  in  the  holiest  ministries,  adorned  with 
the  choicest  graces,  animated  by  the  loftiest 
hopes,  and  sealed  as  the  heirs  of  immortality. 
This  work  is  immeasurably  nobler  than  the 
grandest  and  the  most  finished  creations  or 
imitations  of  Art. 

But  we  may  claim  a  very  high  place  in  this 
matter  of  Art  for  our  holy  religion.  Indeed, 
some  portions  of  the  sacred  writings  are  of 
inimitable  beauty  and  sublimity.  And  but  for 
the  gospel,  where  had  been  Handel's  unmatched 
Oratorio  of  the  Messiah,  Dante's  Divina  Corn- 
media,  Milton's  Paradise  Lost,  Leonardo  da 
Vinci's  Last  Supper,  Michael  Angelo's  Last 
Judgment,  Volterra's  Descent  from  the  Cross, 
or  Raphael's  Transfiguration?  However  de- 
fective may  have  been  the  character  of  any  of 
these,  or  other  great  masters,  in  Christian  Art, 
it  is  undeniable  that  they  drew  their  inspiration 
from  the  oracles  of  God.  These  gave  them 
the  sublime  conception  which,  more  than  their 
style  of  expression,  is  the  abiding  charm  of  their 

5 


66  AFFINITT,  4c 

work.  Let  rationalism,  positivism,  naturalism, 
do  better  and  greater  things  than  these,  ere  we 
are  summoned  to  exchange  our  Faith  for  their 
Unbelief.  In  his  life  of  Michael  Angelo,  Her- 
man Grimm  has  recorded  a  fact,  or  uttered  an 
opinion,  which  is  worth  the  study  of  those  who 
would  banish  the  supernatural  from  the  world. 
His  words  are  :  "  The  decline  of  painting  and 
sculpture  began  when  the  sacred  element  wholly 
disappeared,  and  when  the  artist's  single  aim 
was  to  satisfy  the  purchaser  of  the  work."  Art 
can  never  do  its  best,  both  in  theme  and  expres- 
sion, until  it  feels  the  breathing  of  the  Divine 
Spirit,  grasps  some  great  divine  thought,  and 
bathes  itself  in  the  radiance  of  the  divine  glory. 


CORRECTIVE    OF   THE  FAULTS,  &c.     67 


VIII. 


A    CORRECTIVE    OF    THE    FAULTS    INCIDENT 
TO    KNOWLEDGE. 

IGHT  is  always  good  if  a  man  will  use  it 
"^^  lawfully.  But  it  is  the  prerogative  of  a 
free  agent,  and  very  often  the  impulse  of  the 
human  agent,  to  use  it  unlawfully.  No  one 
thinks  of  controverting  the  adage,  "  Knowledge 
is  power."  But  it  must  be  remembered,  that  it 
is  power  in  the  bad  as  well  as  in  the  good. 
It  may  indeed  be  claimed,  that  the  legitimate 
influence  of  knowledge  is  purifying  and  eleva- 
ting ;  that  other  things  being  equal,  crimes  and 
gross  immoralities  will  abound  more  in  an 
ignorant  than  in  an  enlightened  community. 
And  yet  it  is  incontrovertible,  that  many 
learned  men  have  been  also  very  profligate, 
and  a  greater  scourge  to  society  in  consequence 
of  their  learning.    And  it  is  generally  supposed 


68 


A    CORRECTIVE    OF   THE  FAULTS 


that  the  Augustan  age,  eminent  in  letters,  was 
among  the  most  corrupt  in  Roman  history. 
And  the  subsequent  decay  of  learning  was  the 
effect  more  than  the  cause  of  moral  degeneracy. 
And  it  is  the  conviction  of  many  among  us  in 
advanced  life,  who  can  remember  the  two 
generations  before  them,  and  observe  the  two 
following  them,  that  the  moral  tone  of  society 
has  not,  to  say  the  least,  kept  pace  with  the 
increase  and  diffusion  of  knowledge.  And 
there  are  not  wanting  those  who  affirm  posi- 
tively, that  the  loss  in  morals  has  been  greater 
than  the  gain  in  learning.  Considering  the 
measure  of  light  now  enjoyed,  we  have  cer- 
tainly no  occasion  to  boast  of  the  moral  purity 
and  vigor  of  society.  The  frequency  and  enor- 
mity of  crimes,  the  prevalence  of  social  and 
vicious  dissipation,  to  say  nothing  of  profanity 
and  blasphemy,  forbid  our  glorying,  lest  we 
glory  in  our  shame. 

And,  most  certainty,  it  cannot  be  supposed 
that  the  gospel  has  contributed  materially  and 
directly  to  the  prevalence  of  these  abominations, 
for  it  is  in  continual  protest  against  them.    The 


INCIDENT   TO  KNOWLEDGE.  69 

explanation  was  long  ago  recorded  by  the 
prophet  Isaiah  :  "Thy  wisdom  and  thy  knowl- 
edge it  hath  perverted  thee,  and  thou  hast  said 
in  thine  heart,  I  am,  and  none  else  beside  me." 
And  to  the  same  purpose  are  the  words  of  the 
apostle:  "Knowledge  puffeth  up,  but  charity 
editieth.  And  if  any  man  think  that  he  know- 
eth  any  thing,  he  knoweth  nothing  yet  as  he 
ought  to  know."  Does  the  gospel  then  set  its 
face  against  knowledge?  By  no  means.  The 
same  apostle,  writing  to  the  same  church,  used 
this  language:  "Brethren,  be  not  children  in 
understanding  :  howbeit  in  malice  be  ye  chil- 
dren, but  in  understanding  be  men."  It  is  the 
abuse  of  knowledge  against  which  we  are 
warned.  If  men  think  they  have  made  great 
attainments  in  it,  they  are  prone  to  be  proud, 
puffed  up  with  the  conceit  of  their  own  conse- 
quence. And  this  pride  stands  in  the  way  of 
further  attainments,  if  it  does  not  make  useless 
or  pernicious  those  already  gained.  The  influ- 
ence of  the  gospel  tends  to  abase  this  pride, 
and  keep  men  ever  learning  and  ever  turning 
their  knowledge  to  good  account. 


70        A    CORRECTIVE    OF  THE  FAULTS 

It  may  indeed  be  said,  that  the  more  thor- 
oughly a  man  is  educated,  the  less  likely  is  he 
to  be  proud.  We  freely  allow  it,  provided  his 
education  be  symmetrical,  including  the  knowl- 
edge of  God  as^well  as  the  knowledge  of  nature, 
and  the  training  of  the  moral  as  well  as  the 
intellectual  part.  But  the  question  is,  How  to 
get  men  safely  up  to  this  point  of  a  thorough 
education  :  how  to  carry  them  past  the  perils 
which  beset  them  by  the  way,  and  to  give  them 
the  requisite  impulse  to  push  forward  to  the 
goal.  Pride  is  apt  to  spoil  the  work  while  in 
progress.  Here  is  needed  a  sanative  moral 
influence  to  humble  and  quicken  the  soul.  And 
this  is  furnished  by  the  gospel.  Here  we  are 
taught  the  nothingness  of  human  excellence 
and  acquirements.  Here  we  learn  to  put  a 
true  estimate,  both  in  kind  and  degree,  upon 
the  treasures  of  human  learning.  We  discover 
that  the  wisdom  of  the  world  is  nought  without 
the  knowledge  of  God.  We  see  that  the  grand- 
est heights  of  human  thought  are  infinitely 
below  the  thoughts  of  God. 

If  pride  does  not  stay  the  march  of  intellect, 


INCIDENT   TO  KNOWLEDGE.  7T 

ambition  is  likely  to  convert  it  into  a  crusade 
of  violence  and  destruction.  When  the  prog- 
ress of  knowledge  is  rapid,  great  forces  are 
developed,  great  schemes  conceived,  which  will 
prove  a  bane  or  a  blessing  according  to  the 
direction  which  is  given  them.  And  this  direc- 
tion depends  chiefly  upon  the  prevailing  moral 
tone.  If  this  is  corrupt,  a  fierce  competition 
for  wealth,  honor,  and  power,  will  generate 
gigantic  frauds  in  business  and  politics,  unsettle 
the  confidence  of  men  in  each  other,  and  not 
unlikely  desolate  a  continent  by  the  sweep  of 
war.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  moral  tone  is 
pure  and  high,  these  forces  will  be  made  the 
instruments  of  a  beneficent  progress  in  the  con- 
veniences and  comforts  of  life,  in  the  general 
culture  of  society,  and  in  all  the  arts  and  ap- 
pliances and  resources  which  characterize  an 
advancing  civilization.  What  can  give  the 
requisite  moral  tone  but  the  gospel?  Knowing 
the  power  of  self-interest  and  carnal  ambition, 
we  shall  stultify  ourselves  if  we  suppose  that 
the  sense  of  honor  and  self-respect,  or  the  gen- 
erous sympathies  native  to  the  human  heart, 


7 2         A    CORRECTIVE    OF   THE   FAULTS 

will  alone  furnish  any  effectual  restraint  upon 
the  lawless  passions.  Nothing  but  moral  prin- 
ciple, born  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  and  supported 
by  the  high  sanctions  of  divine  revelation,  can 
meet  the  emergency.  In  the  midst  of  light, 
which  shows  men  how  to  wield  the  arts  of 
Satanic  cunning,  there  must  be  the  regener- 
ating and  sanctifying  efficiency  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  or  society,  —  under  the  spur  of  a  mad 
ambition  for  great  things,  of  honor,  powrer, 
gain,  and  pleasure,  —  will  rush  into  the  abyss 
of  corruption  and  destruction. 

If  it  be  said  that  the  gospel  has  no  appreci- 
able influence  in  counteracting  the  fierce  passion 
for  gain  and  self-aggrandizement,  stimulated 
by  the  facilities  which  knowledge  supplies, 
we  answer  that  it  has,  in  fact,  much  less  than 
we  desire,  but  that  without  it  the  evil  would 
be  far  worse.  And  we  further  allege  that,  but 
for  the  teachings  of  unbelief,  it  would  have  far 
greater  power.  Where  received,  the  gospel 
does  moderate,  if  not  destroy,  the  ambition  to 
get  great  things  for  one's  self.  And  but  for 
those  who  deny  its  claims,  it  would  be  far  more 


INCIDENT   TO  KNOWLEDGE.  73 

generally  received.  Those  who  would  take 
the  reins  out  of  its  hands  know  not  what  they 
do.  Their  conceit  of  superiority  is  a  dangerous 
thing  for  themselves  and  the  world.  Let  them 
increase  in  knowledge  as  rapidly  as  they  can, 
but  let  them  never  suppose  themselves  wiser 
than  God.  It  were  well  for  them  to  recall  the 
story  of  the  Titans  attempting  to  scale  the 
heights  of  heaven,  and  of  Phaeton  to  guide 
the  chariot  of  the  sun.  It  were  better  still  for 
them  to  ponder,  with  a  teachable  mind,  the 
inspired  account  of  the  first  human  pair,  who, 
deceived  by  the  father  of  lies,  and  aspiring  to 
be  gods  in  wisdom  and  knowledge,  fell  from 
their  high  estate,  lost  the  pure  image  of  their 
Creator,  and  let  in  upon  themselves  and  the 
world  floods  of  error,  sin,  and  woe.  At  first, 
as  Milton  writes,  — 

"As  with  new  wine  intoxicated  both, 
They  swim  in  mirth,  and  fancy  that  they  feel 
Divinity  within  them  breeding  wings 
Wherewith  to  scorn  the  earth." 

But  at  length  reflection  comes  ;  they  wake  from 
their  guilty  dream,  and  seek  a  covering  for 
their  shame. 


74     A  CORRECTIVE  OF  THE  FAULTS,  &c. 

"They  sat  them  down  to  weep;   nor  only  tear6 
Rained  at  their  eyes,  but  high  winds  worse  within 
Began  to  rise,  high  passions,  anger,  hate, 
Mistrust,  suspicion,  discord,  and  shook  sore 
Their  inward  state  of  mind,  calm  region  once 
And  full  of  peace,  now  lost  and  turbulent: 
For  understanding  ruled  not,  and  the  will 
Heard  not  her  lore;  both  in  subjection  now 
To  sensual  appetite,  who  from  beneath 
Usurping  over  sovereign  reason  claimed  superior  sway. 


CAPABLE    OF  MEETING,   &c.  75 


IX. 


CAPABLE  OF  MEETING  THE  GROWING  WANTS 
OF  THE  SOUL. 

FT  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  more  men 
know  the  more  they  want.  Desire  not  only 
keeps  pace  with  attainment,  but  goes  ever  be- 
yond it,  and  even  grows  with  greater  rapidity. 
Few  and  simple  things  satisfy  the  desires  of 
the  savage.  A  rude  wigwam  for  his  dwelling, 
the  primeval  forest  for  his  hunting  ground,  a 
little  fish  and  maize  for  his  food,  skins  for  his 
clothing,  the  war  dance  for  his  amusement, 
and  some  low,  vague  notions  of  a  divinity, 
with  corresponding  rites  of  worship  for  his  reli- 
gion,—  these  meet  the  chief  part  of  his  felt 
necessities.  But  to  the  man  of  cultivation  and 
refinement  they  are  as  nothing,  or  perhaps 
even   an    offence    and    irritation.      Better   and 


76  CAPABLE    OF  MEETING    THE 

greater  things  than  these  are  required  for  his 
comfort  day  by  day.  And  with  all  his  inge- 
nuity of  invention,  and  facilities  of  communi- 
cation, he  cannot  obtain  supplies  with  sufficient 
rapidity,  and  in  sufficient  measure,  to  make 
him  content.  His  eagerness  for  something 
new  is  stimulated  rather  than  satisfied  by  every 
fresh  acquisition.  The  thirst  for  knowledge 
increases  with  attainment,  like  the  passion  for 
gold.  Larger  and  more  refined  conceptions 
in  religion  reach  up  for  something  still  greater 
and  higher. 

Now  the  question  arises,  Is  the  soul  doomed 
to  this  indefinite  expansion  of  its  desires  without 
the  possibility  of  finding  any  object  vast  enough 
to  fill  them,  and  keep  them  filled  always  and 
everywhere?  This  question  must  be  answered 
in  the  affirmative,  unless  there  is  some  Being 
able  to  do  more  for  us  than  all  the  mythologies, 
the  philosophies,  the  arts,  and  the  sciences  of 
men,  either  in  their  present  condition  or  in  any 
improved  state  to  which  the  studies  and  labors 
of  human  genius  may  bring  them.  The  uni- 
verse  is  indeed  vast,  and  we  are  yet  far  short 


GROWING    WANTS   OF  THE   SOUL.         77 

of  a  complete  knowledge  of  its  manifold  objects, 
processes,  relations,  and  uses.  A  great  meas- 
ure of  satisfaction  is  yet  to  be  enjoyed  from  the 
discoveries  which  will  be  made.  But  these 
discoveries  will  develop  the  human  soul  into 
still  grander  proportions,  and  set  it  upon  asking 
questions  still  more  difficult  to  be  answered. 
And  what  shall  be  the  end?  Is  there  no  rest- 
ing place  for  this  aspiring,  yearning,  expanding 
spirit  ? 

The  gospel  answers  this  question.  It  brings 
us  to  the  Infinite  in  a  personal  form,  and  satis- 
fying relations.  This  great,  growing,  human 
mind  it  sets  face  to  face  with  the  Infinite  under- 
standing, and  bids  it  commune  with  the  Author 
of  its  being,  —  bids  it  ask  its  far-reaching  ques- 
tions of  Him  who  gave  the  power  to  ask,  and 
holds  the  power  to  answer.  On  nothing  below 
Him  can  rest  the  full)-  awakened  and  developed 
human  mind.  All  possibilities  of  thought  and 
knowledge  are  with  Him.  And  He  is  acces- 
sible to  His  rational  creatures.  He  may  be 
known  of  them,  and  in  knowing  Him  they  may 
be  satisfied.     If  they  know  less  of  Him  than 


78  CAPABLE    OF  MEETING    THE 

they  desire,  they  may  increase  in  that  knowl- 
edge, and  go  on  increasing  for  ever,  and  find 
in  all  increase  added  joy.  The  Father  of  our 
spirits,  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  is  the  God  of  all  comfort,  the  God  of 
peace.  To  the  best  knowledge  He  adds  the 
gifts  of  faith  and  hope. 

It  is  matter  of  experience  that  many  of  the 
most  gifted  and  cultured  souls,  reconciled  to 
Him,  resting  upon  Him,  have  found  peace, 
even  that  peace  which  passeth  all  understand- 
ing. He  who  has  found  a  gospel  which  can 
inspire,  and  a  God  who  can  answer,  such  a 
prayer  as  that  of  the  great  apostle  for  the 
church  at  Ephesus,  must  be  satisfied,  however 
vast  and  varied  his  desires,  or  however  rapid 
the  rate  of  their  increase:  "That  he  would 
grant  you,  according  to  the  riches  of  his  glory, 
to  be  strengthened  with  might  by  his  Spirit  in  the 
inner  man  ;  that  Christ  may  dwell  in  your  hearts 
by  faith  ;  that  ye,  being  rooted  and  grounded  in 
love,  may  be  able  to  comprehend  with  all  saints 
what  is  the  breadth,  and  length,  and  depth,  and 
height ;   and  to  know  the  love  of  Christ,  which 


GROWING   WANTS   OF  THE  SOUL.        79 

passeth  knowledge,  that  ye  might  be  filled  with 
all  the  fulness  of  God."  From  the  ever  exult- 
ant soul  of  such  a  man  must  break  forth  the 
doxoloirv  :  "Now  unto  him  that  is  able  to  do 
exceeding  abundantly  above  all  that  we  ask  or 
think,  according  to  the  power  that  worketh  in 
us,  unto  him  be  glory  in  the  church  by  Christ 
Jesus  throughout  all  ages,  world  without  end. 
Amen." 

The  question  of  range,  or  compass  of  thought, 
is  not  the  only  one  answered  for  the  soul  in  the 
God  of  the  gospel.  The  need  of  forgiveness  is 
liable  to  be  felt  more  and  more,  as  the  soul 
advances  in  the  knowledge  of  God  and  itself. 
His  holiness  will  appear  more  glorious,  its 
impurity  more  loathsome  ;  His  authority  more 
sacred,  its  sin  more  criminal ;  His  displeasure 
more  awful,  its  guilt  more  inexcusable.  It  is 
unquestionably  true,  in  many  cases  at  least, 
that  the  more  men  grow,  both  in  knowledge 
and  grace,  the  deeper  is  their  sense  of  sin,  the 
more  they  abhor  themselves.  Not  sin  in  gen- 
eral alone,  nor  some  gross  forms  of  it  observed 
in  others,  but  their  own  heart  sins  take  on  an 


So  CAPABLE    OF  MEETING    THE 

enormity,  in  their  view,  which  is  quite  inex- 
pressible. No  sane  man  will  question  either 
the  intelligence  or  the  comparative  purity  of 
Jonathan  Edwards.  But  this  saintly  man  has 
left  on  record  this  expression  of  his  sense  of 
sin  :  "  When  I  look  into  my  heart,  and  take 
a  view  of  my  wickedness,  it  looks  like  an  abyss 
infinitely  deeper  than  hell.  And  it  appears  to 
me,  that  were  it  not  for  free  grace,  exalted  and 
raised  up  to  the  infinite  height  of  all  the  fulness 
and  glory  of  the  great  Jehovah,  and  the  arm 
of  his  power  and  grace  stretched  forth  in  all  the 
majesty  of  his  power,  and  in  all  the  glory  of  his 
sovereignty,  I  should  appear  sunk  down  in  my 
sins  below  hell  itself;  far  beyond  the  sight  of 
every  thing  but  the  eye  of  sovereign  grace, 
that  can  pierce  even  down  to  such  a  depth. 
And  yet  it  seems  to  me,  that  my  conviction  of 
sin  is  exceeding  small  and  faint :  it  is  enough 
to  amaze  me,  that  I  have  no  more  sense  of  my 
sins."  These  words  were  deliberately  chosen 
to  convey  not  a  momentary  but  an  abiding 
impression.  The  sentence  immediately  pre- 
ceding is  :    "Very  often,  for  these  many  years, 


GROWING   WANTS   OF  THE  SOUL.        ol 

these  expressions  are  in  my  mind  and  in  my 
mouth, — Infinite  upon  infinite,  Infinite  upon 
infin'te." 

These  are  -not  the  utterances  of  a  narrow 
soul,  cramped  and  darkened  by  a  morbid  mel- 
ancholy, but  of  a  royal  nature,  grand  in  its 
perceptions  and  its  emotions.  While  enter- 
taining these  views  of  sin,  he  was  not  despon- 
dent, but  he  could  say  :  "Of  late  years  I  have 
had  a  more  full  and  constant  sense  of  the  abso- 
lute sovereignty  of  God,  and  a  delight  in  that 
sovereignty  ;  and  have  had  more  of  a  sense  of 
the  glory  of  Christ,  as  a  mediator  revealed  in 
the  gospel.  On  one  Saturday  night  in  partic- 
ular, I  had  such  a  discovery  of  the  excellency 
of  the  gospel  above  all  other  doctrines,  that  I 
could  not  but  say  to  myself,  This  is  my  chosen 
light,  my  chosen  doctrine;  and  of  Christ,  This 
is  my  chosen  Prophet.  It  appeared  sweet, 
beyond  all  expression,  to  follow  Christ,  and  to 
be  taught  and  enlightened  and  instructed  by 
Him  ;  to  learn  of  Him  and  live  to  Him.  Another 
Saturday  night  (January,  1739,  thirty-five  years 
of  age)  I  had  such  a  sense  how  sweet  and  blessed 
6 


82  CAPABLE    OF  MEETING    THE 

a  thing  it  was  to  walk  in  the  way  of  duty,  to 
do  that  which  was  right  and  meet  to  be  done, 
and  agreeable  to  the  holy  mind  of  God,  that  it 
caused  me  to  break  forth  into  a  kind  of  loud 
weeping,  which  held  me  some  time,  so  that  I 
was  forced  to  shut  myself  up  and  fasten  the 
doors.  I  could  not  but,  as  it  were,  cry  out, 
How  happy  are  they  which  do  that  which  is 
right  in  the  sight  of  God  !  They  are  blessed 
indeed  !  they  are  the  happy  ones  !  " 

Such  a  sense  of  sin  as  was  habitual  with  this 
great  and  good  man  can  be  met  by  nothing 
less,  nothing  else,  than  "the  glorious  gospel  of 
the  ever  blessed  God."  And  such  a  sense  may 
any  man  have  if  he  possesses  the  requisite 
intelligence,  and  is  enlightened  by  the  Spirit 
of  God.  There  is  a  Power  working  among 
men  adequate  to  a  similar  result  in  the  case  of 
any  competent,  well-instructed  mind.  The  Holy 
Ghost  can  sweep  away  the  sophistries  of  men, 
so  energize  the  conscience,  and  so  reveal  the 
glory  of  the  Lord,  that  they  shall  cry  'out, 
"Woe  is  me,  I  am  undone!"  "Behold,  I  am 
vile  ! "     And  the  providence  of  God  may  put 


GROWING    WANTS  OF  THE  SOUL.        S3 

other  thoughts  into  minds  little  accustomed  to 
serious  reflection.  The  voice  which  once  shook 
the  earth  may  also  shake  the  heavens,  and,  by 
confusing  the  order  of  nature,  confound  the 
thoughts  of  the  wise.  Those  who  have  been 
loudest  in  their  eulogies  of  her  may  be  most  at 
their  wits'  end,  when  "  there  shall  be  signs  in 
the  sun,  and  in  the  moon,  and  in  the  stars,  and 
upon  the  earth  distress  of  nations ;  the  sea  and 
the  waves  roaring ;  men's  hearts  failing  them 
for  fear,  and  for  looking  after  those  things 
which  are  coming  on  the  earth." 

If  a  generation,  wise  in  its  own  conceit,  will 
not  learn  the  fear  of  the  Lord  from  the  teach- 
ings of  His  word  and  the  common  works  of  His 
hand,  there  are  wonders  of  counsel  and  might 
at  His  call.  In  any  event,  He  will  be  exalted  in 
the  earth,  and  men  shall  acknowledge  that  He 
sitteth  King  for  ever,  enthroned  high  above  all 
the  works  of  His  own  hands,  high  over  all  the 
imaginations  and  doings  of  the  children  of 
pride.  Shaken  by  His  power,  convicted  by 
His  Spirit,  the  boldest  deniers  of  His  presence 
and  agency,  the  most  complacent  worshippers 


84  CAPABLE    OF  MEETING    THE 

of  nature  and  themselves,  may  be  seized  with  a 
trembling  like  that  of  Belshazzar,  when  the 
fingers  of  a  man's  hand  came  forth  to  write 
upon  the  wall  of  his  palace.  No  man  can 
safely  affirm  that  he  is  proof  against  an  over- 
whelming sense  of  his  sin  against  'God,  or 
secure  from  an  overwhelming  fear  of  His  dis- 
pleasure, unless  he  has  laid  hold  of  the  hope 
set  before  him  in  the  gospel.  Before  such  a 
sense  of  sin.  the  doctrines  of  naturalism  and 
the  sacrifices  of  paganism  flee  away  like  chaff 
before  the  wind. 

But  supposing  there  were  no  such  thing  as 
sin,  or  fear,  or  wrath,  still  the  soul  of  growing 
intelligence  would  need  love,  both  subjective 
and  objective,  which  can  be  found  only  in  and 
through  the  gospel.  This  is  the  great  radical 
want  of  every  soul.  And  only  that  God,  whose 
grace  bringeth  salvation,  can  either  inspire  in 
us,  or  bestow  upon  us,  an  adequate  love.  Ad- 
miration of  the  beautiful  is  not  the  same  thing  as 
love  of  the  good  ;  and,  in  order  to  be  complete, 
we  must  do  more  than  admire,  —  we  must  love. 
We  may  love  an  unworthy  object  inordinately  ; 


GROWING   WANTS  OF  THE  SOUL.        o0 

but  the  power  of  loving  cannot  be  fully  devel- 
oped without  embracing  a  great  and  good 
object ;  cannot  reach  its  highest  without  finding 
and  resting  upon  the  Greatest  and  the  Best. 
Beyond  all  other  objects  ever  known  or  con- 
ceived of,  the  creating,  preserving,  redeeming 
God  of  the  Scriptures  has  power,  and  power 
because  He  has  worth,  to  beget  and  develop 
love  in  the  human  soul,  —  a  love  true,  pure, 
great,  tender,  active,  enduring,  eternal.  In 
many  ways  is  this  worth  displayed,  this  power 
exerted  ;  but  beyond  and  above  all  else  in  the 
redemption  through  Christ  Jesus.  Here,  most 
emphatically,  is  the  hiding  of  this  power.  There 
is  nothing  great  enough  and  good  enough  for 
us  to  love  with  all  the  heart,  but  this  God  of 
grace.  Naturalism,  pantheism,  may  set  before 
us  marvels  to  excite  our  wonder  and  admiration, 
but  they  give  us  no  such  object  to  love. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  is  no  other  such 
Being,  no  other  being  great  and  good  enough 
to  love  us  as  we  long  to  be  loved.  Precious, 
indeed,  is  the  love  of  human  hearts.  But  in 
feeling   and   purpose   they  come   short   of  our 


86  CAPABLE    OF  MEETING    THE 

necessities,  especially  when,  by  reflection  and 
culture  and  divine  teaching,  we  become  con- 
scious of  the  greatness  of  our  need.  We  might 
be  comfortable,  possibly  content,  with  nothing 
higher  or  stronger  than  the  devoted  attachment 
of  pure  unselfish  human  hearts,  but  our'jov 
could  not  be  full.  Room  has  God  made  in 
these  hearts  for  His  own  infinite  love,  and  room 
that  never  can  bejilled  by  any  thing  else.  The 
language  of  the  man  who  has  become  conscious 
of  his  need  is  :  "As  the  hart  panteth  after  the 
water-brooks,  so  panteth  my  soul  after  thee, 
O  God.  My  soul  thirsteth  for  God,  for  the 
living  God."  And  the  language  of  one  who 
has  found  the  supply  is  :  "  Whom  have  I  in 
heaven  but  thee  ?  and  there  is  none  upon 
earth  that  I  desire  besides  thee.  .  .  .  God  is 
the  strength  of  my  heart,  and  my  portion  for 
ever." 

Impersonal  nature,  however  great  and  varied 
her  charms,  cannot  give  us  love.  This  great- 
est, most  enduring  want  of  the  soul  can  be 
met,  is  met,  and  we  have  abundant  reason  to 
believe   will  be   met  for  ever,   by  the   Father 


GROWING   WANTS  OF  THE  SOUL.        87 

of  our  spirits  and  the  Saviour  of  our  souls. 
"Herein  is  love,  not  that  we  loved  God,  but 
that  he  loved  us,  and  sent  his  Son  to  be  the 
propitiation  for  our  sins."  "And  we  have 
known  and  believed  the  love  that  God  hath  to 
us.  God  is  love  ;  and  he  that  dwelleth  in  love 
dwelleth  in  God,  and  God  in  him." 

Thus  being  loved,  and  loving  thus,  we  must 
be  supremely  and  for  ever  blessed.  To  a  soul 
thus  developed,  ennobled,  satisfied,  what  are 
the  trials  incident  to  this  mortal  life?  Those 
who  can  say,  "  The  love  of  God  is  shed  abroad 
in  our  hearts  by  the  Holy  Ghost  which  is  given 
unto  us,"  can  also  add,  "We  rejoice  in  hope 
of  the  glory  of  God  ;  we  glory  in  tribulation 
also,  knowing  that  tribulation  worketh  patience, 
and  patience  experience,  and  experience  hope, 
and  hope  maketh  not  ashamed."  And  may 
we  not  confidently  affirm  that  this  love  creates 
a  better  atmosphere  for  the  cure,  the  comfort, 
and  the  true  development  of  our  poor  stricken 
humanity,  than  that  which  surrounds  the  purest 
philosophers  and  the  noblest  teachers  of  sci- 
ence, who  have   learned  nothing  in  the  school 


88  CAPABLE    OF  MEETING,  &c. 

of  Christ?  What  else  can  so  soften,  refine, 
adorn,  and  ennoble  the  nature  made  rugged 
and  selfish  by  indwelling  sin,  and  made  bitter 
and  reckless  by  the  wrongs  inflicted  upon  it? 
Knowledge  we  do  not  despise  ;  but  love,  God's 
own  to  us,  and  such  in  us  for  God  and  man  as 
the  gospel  alone  can  inspire,  we  must  have,  to 
smooth  the  rugged  way  of  life,  and  fit  us  for 
our  mission  to  our  kind.  In  this  atmosphere 
we  would  live  and  die,  and  live  again,  and  live 
for  ever. 


GRANDEUR    OF  ITS  MISSION.  89 


X. 


GRANDEUR   OF  ITS    PRACTICAL   MISSION. 

P^HE  gospel  zvork  is  one  to  invite  and  en- 
gross the  very  best  -powers  of  our  minds 
and  our  hearts.  It  should  be  reckoned  a  privi- 
lege and  not  a  burden.  We  naturally  thirst 
for  something  to  do.  Indolence  has  indeed 
been  spoken  of  facetiously  as  "our  original 
sin."  And  there  is  a  coloring  of  truth  in  the 
representation.  And  yet  the  common  aversion 
to  work  is  not  an  indisposition  toward  all 
activity,  but  only  toward  certain  forms  of  it. 
The  little  child  is  not  simply  restless,  but  eager 
also  to  do  something.  That  something  may 
not  be  useful,  but  it  requires  the  exercise  of 
strength,  calculation,  and  perhaps  all  the  little 
stock  of  knowledge  as  yet  possessed.  It  would 
probably  be  as  correct  to  say  that  men  acquire 


9°  GRANDEUR    OF  ITS  MISSION. 

as  to  say  that  they  inherit  idle  tendencies. 
And  never  can  a  man  be  fully  satisfied  with 
himself  without  employing  his  faculties  and 
energies  in  some  useful  calling.  It  is  not 
really  a  question  with  us  whether  we  shall  be 
active  or  inactive,  so  long  as  we  are  able  to 
accomplish  any  thing  either  with  our  brains  or 
with  our  hands.  We  are  impelled  by  an 
inward,  if  not  an  outward,  necessity  to  be 
doing  something  daily.  The  impulse  is  not 
indeed  sufficient  with  all,  for  the  doing  of  any 
thing  like  what  they  are  capable  of.  But  if 
those  comparatively  idle  are  satisfied  with  them- 
selves, their  course  does  not  commend  itself  to 
any  earnest,  noble  mind.  It  is  barely  possible 
that  a  man  may  be  so  indolent,  that  he  cannot 
even  appreciate  the  schemes  and  achievements 
of  more  earnest  men.  But,  ordinarily,  those 
least  efficient  are  ready  to  praise  the  man  of 
lofty  ambition  and  heroic  labors.  And  some- 
times, by  such  examples,  the  idle  are  made 
ashamed  of  their  aimless  and  useless  lives. 

It  being  settled,  then,  that  we  are  to  do  some- 
thing, are  to  employ  our  energies  upon  some 


GRANDEUR    OF  ITS  MISSION.  9 1 

kind  of  business,  the  question  arises,  How  may 
they  be  employed  in  the  most  worthy,  useful, 
and  satisfying  manner?  The  work  now  under 
consideration  furnishes  the  best  answer  to  this 
question.  Here  is  a  mission,  whose  tendencies 
are  unmistakably  good,  —  more  than  this,  are 
the  best  conceivable,  —  and  whose  measure 
gives  scope  for  all  the  faculties  and  energies 
of  any  and  every  man.  The  tendencies  are  so 
obvious,  and  so  well  understood  in  a  Christian 
community,  that  there  is  no  occasion  to  dwell 
upon  them  here.  True  gospel  work  embraces 
every  right  form  of  teaching,  healing,  purify- 
ing, elevating,  strengthening,  enriching,  and 
comforting  ministration.  Its  aim  is  to  form  a 
perfect  character,  fill  the  mind  with  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  greatest  things,  and  the  heart  with 
the  purest  and  sublimest  joys.  In  connection 
with  this,  it  favors  such  alleviations  of  the  ills, 
and  such  enhancement  of  the  benefits,  pertain- 
ing to  the  outward  estate,  as  the  highest  well- 
being  of  the  individual  and  of  society  may 
require.  To  the  work  of  the  gospel,  carried 
out  according  to  the  plan  and  in  the  spirit  of 


92  GRANDEUR    OF  ITS   MISSION. 

its  great  Author,  no  candid,  truth-loving,  and 
benevolent  mind  can  object.  No  man  can  pos- 
sibly desire  to  do  any  thing  better  for  his  fellow- 
men,  any  thing  which  will  more  certainly  secure 
and  increase  their  moral  worth,  or  redound 
more  to  their  lasting  happiness.  The  kind  of 
work,  taken  in  a  comprehensive  sense,  is  just 
what  an  enlightened  reason  and  a  pure  heart 
must  judge  most  fit  and  needful  to  be  done. 

But  this  work  is  great  as  well  as  good.  And 
by  this  characteristic,  it  is  in  a  special  manner 
commended  to  an  enlightened  mind.  With  the 
progress  of  knowledge,  in  science  and  art,  men 
are  learning  to  do  great  things;  i.e.,  things 
which  are  great  in  comparison  with  the  achieve- 
ments, or  even  the  ideas,  of  an  earlier  age. 
They  project  and  accomplish  gigantic  schemes. 
They  make  highways  for  thought  under  the 
ocean,  for  trade  and  travel  across  the  conti- 
nents. They  amass  splendid  fortunes,  and 
rear  magnificent  palaces.  They  are  moving 
toward  the  recognition  of  all  nations  as  mem- 
bers of  one  great  family,  with  common  interests, 
and  made  for  mutual  acquaintance  and  profit. 


GRANDEUR    OF  ITS   MISSION.  93 

They  are  looking  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  in 
their  calculations  for  gain  or  pleasure.  Not 
a  few  despise  small  plans,  and  are  impatient 
of  slow  gains.  They  are  for  a  larger  place  and 
bolder  operations  than  those  which  satisfied  their 
fathers. 

And  not  in  material  enterprises  alone  are  men 
making  themselves  familiar  with  broad  plans 
and  great  endeavors.  In  the  domain  of  knowl- 
edge they  are  pushing  their  discoveries  into  the 
depths  below  and  the  heights  abovre,  laying 
bare  secrets  of  the  ocean,  and  uncovering  the 
face  of  stars,  which  have  been  hid  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world.  In  ethics  and  politics 
and  social  relations,  they  are  agitating,  if  not 
compassing,  great  revolutions.  These  things 
all  spring  from  a  growing  intelligence,  although 
some  of  their  experiments  may  be  little  to  its 
credit.  But  however  crude  some  of  the  theories, 
or  harmful  even  some  of  the  expedients,  which 
are  born  of  this  mental  quickening,  they  foster 
a  passion  for  schemes  of  amazing  magnitude 
and  splendor.  It  is  requisite,  therefore,  if  a 
moral  undertaking  is  to  hold  its  own,  and  win 


94  GRANDEUR    OF  ITS   MISSION. 

new  victories,  in  such  an  age,  that  it  should 
have  a  vastness  in  keeping  with  these  schemes 
of  secular  wisdom  and  enterprise,  or  far  out- 
reaching  them  all. 

And  this  is  the  character  of  the  Christian 
enterprise,  considered  as  an  agency  for  effect- 
ing changes  in  the  character  and  fortunes  of 
mankind.  Its  grandeur  is  made  evident  when 
we  consider  the  material  which  it  takes  in 
hand,  fas.  forces  by  which  it  shapes  this  mate- 
rial to  its  purpose,  the  excellence  of  the  per- 
fected result^  and  the  extent  of  its  actual  or 
intended  operations. 

What  is  the  material  in  hand?  It  is  the 
human  soul,  or  man  as  a  moral  being,  —  intel- 
ligent, responsible,  immortal.  The  business 
of  Christianity,  specifically,  is  to  transform  this 
being  into  the  likeness  of  God,  and  set  him  in 
relations  of  fellowship  and  co-operation  with 
God.  Of  the  value  of  this  soul,  no  adequate 
estimate  can  be  formed  by  any  mind  which 
cannot  fathom  infinity  and  eternity.  The  im- 
pressive, the  startling  words  of  our  Saviour, 
"  What  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  shall  gain  the 


GRANDEUR    OF  ITS  MISSION.  95 

whole  world,  and  lose  his  own  soul  ?"  fail  to 
convey  to  us  any  thing  like  a  full,  an  exhaustive 
idea  of  its  priceless  worth.  How  high,  com- 
paratively, does  the  rational  being  stand  on  the 
scale  of  created  objects?  At  the  head  of  this 
lower  and  visible  creation,  and  but  a  little  below 
the  angels,  is  this  creature  man.  And  above 
the  angels  we  know  of  none  but  God.  And, 
indeed,  we  are  told  that  "  God  created  man  in 
his  own  image."  Reason,  imagination,  judg- 
ment, conscience,  will,  what  faculties  are  these  ! 
To  what  a  development  of  strength,  order,  and 
beauty  they  may  be  brought !  The  desires, 
the  aspirations,  the  passions,  the  affections, 
wrhat  powers  are  these  !  To  what  degradation 
and  shame  they  may  sink,  or  to  what  dignity 
and  glory  they  may  lift,  the  soul !  What  sus- 
ceptibilities, what  capabilities,  in  this  creature 
man  !  Shut  up  to  this  little  corner  of  the 
universe,  made  the  tenant  of  a  frail  earthly 
tabernacle,  compassed  about  with  infirmities, 
he  can  nevertheless  send  his  thoughts  back- 
ward far  beyond  the  beginning  of  measured 
time,  and  onward  far  beyond  the  point  at  which 


96  GRANDEUR    OF  ITS   MISSION. 

time  shall  be  no  longer,  and  outward  beyond 
the  orbits  of  uncounted  and  invisible  worlds, 
and  upward  to  the  very  throne  of  the  eternal 
God.  He  can  frame  instruments,  by  which  he 
may  bring  to  light  the  hidden  things  of  dark- 
ness, searching  with  equal  ease  the  microscopic 
and  the  telescopic  spheres,  and  making  real  to 
his  apprehension  in  these  domains  an  infinitude 
of  things  small  and  great. 

And  these  magnificent  capabilities  may  all 
be  used  in  quick  response  to  the  mandates  of 
the  eternal  King,  with  the  conscious  and  the 
willing  purpose  to  glorify  Him,  and  further  the 
great  ends  by  Him  ordained.  The  laws  of 
nature  are  beautiful  in  their  simplicity,  order, 
and  majesty,  but  they  have  neither  conscious- 
ness nor  volition.  The  instincts  of  animals  are 
often  charming  in  their  accuracy,  strength,  and 
utility, —  their  affections,  also,  in  their  tenderness 
and  fitness,  —  but  they  cannot  entertam  a  moral 
purpose,  nor  perform  a  moral  action.  Here 
man  stands  alone,  or  with  the  angels  and  with 
God.  Oh  that  in  the  best  sense  it  could  be  said 
that  here  he  stands!     But,  alas!   he  has  fallen 


GRANDEUR    OF  ITS   MISSION.  97 

by  his  iniquity  ;  and  yet,  in  his  fall,  has  not 
made  his  soul  less  precious.  Lost  in  a  spiritual 
sense,  and  most  unworthy,  and  yet  in  God's 
thought  too  precious  to  be  lost,  without  any  and 
every  practicable  sacrifice  to  redeem  it !  The 
recovery  of  this  soul,  whose  redemption  is  so 
precious,  is  the  work  of  the  gospel.  Is  there 
any  other  work  like  it  ?  Should  some  evil 
power  quench  the  light  and  destroy  the  heat 
of  the  sun,  so  that  the  earth  and  all  the  other 
planets  would  roll  around  it  in  darkness,  deso- 
lation, and  death,  and  then  a  good  spirit  should 
rekindle  its  fires,  and  so  bring  back  to  us  the 
old  brightness,  beauty,  and  life,  he  would  be 
a  benefactor  worthy  of  unmeasured  praise,  and 
yet  less  a  benefactor  than  this  gospel,  which 
brings  life  and  immortality  to  light ;  which  lays 
hold  of  dead  souls,  and  wakes  them  to  newness 
of  life;  which  brings  these  wandering  stars, 
that  were  on  their  way  to  the  blackness  of 
darkness  for  ever,  back  to  their  place,  and 
pours  upon  them  the  effulgence  of  the  Sun  of 
righteousness. 

And  by  what  forces  does  the  gospel  shape  this 
7 


q8         grandeur  of  its  mission. 

frecious  soul  into  the  likeness  of  God?  The 
purest  and  the  richest  of  which  we  have  any 
knowledge,  or  of  which  we  are  able  to  conceive, 
—  the  attractions  of  love,  human  and  divine 
love.  "The  Spirit  and  the  bride  say,  Come." 
A  word  first  about  the  office  of  human  love. 
Men  are  employed  as  instruments  in  persuading 
their  fellow-men  to  receive  the  gospel.  And 
if  they  expect  any  success  in  this  work,  they 
must  speak  the  truth  in  love.  This  has  been 
exemplified  in  the  history  of  many  successful 
workers  in  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord.  Take 
one  example,  that  of  the  apostle  Paul.  Such 
love  had  he  for  his  people  that  he  said,  "  I 
could  wish  that  myself  were  accursed  from 
Christ  for  my  brethren,  my  kinsmen  according 
to  the  flesh."  And  this  was  his  way  of  pleading 
with  men  to  receive  the  gospel  :  "Now.  then, 
we  are  ambassadors  for  Christ,  as  though  God 
did  beseech  you  by  us  :  we  pray  you  in  Christ's 
stead,  be  ye  reconciled  to  God."  This  love  for 
souls,  which  is  born  of  love  to  God,  is  the  purest 
and  the  strongest  which  man  bears  toward  his 
fellow-man.     The  love  of  husbands  and  wives, 


GRANDEUR    OF  ITS  MISSION.  99 

of  parents  and  children,  is  often  extremely 
tender  and  beautiful.  But,  to  this,  additional 
charms  and  strength  are  imparted  by  a  true 
apprehension  of  the  worth  of  the  soul,  and  a 
Christian  concern  for  its  salvation. 

And  even  where  there  are  no  ties  of  kindred, 
or  interest,  or  friendship,  in  the  common  accep- 
tation of  that  term,  this  gospel  love  is  often  a 
consuming  passion.  It  is  benevolence  quick- 
ened and  intensified  by  the  fear  that  souls  will 
perish,  by  a  dread  for  them  of  everlasting  burn- 
ings, and  by  the  anticipation  of  their  unending 
felicity.  How  can  we  possibly  exert  our  influ- 
ence so  well  as  through  this  affection  of  grace  ? 
What  are  personal  charms,  or  learning,  or 
wealth,  or  position,  as  means  of  influence,  com- 
pared with  this  undying,  unselfish,  unspeakable 
love  of  souls?  And  we  are  not  to  reckon  this 
kind  of  human  love  as  unworthy  of  a  place  in 
this  great  work  of  drawing  men  to  goodness 
and  to  God.  Even  divine  love,  that  it  might 
be  made  most  efficient,  became  allied  with  the 
human.  Christ  loved  as  a  man  not  less  truly 
than  as  God.     In  that  tearful  lament  over  Jeru- 


IOO  GRANDEUR    OF  ITS   MISSION. 

salem,  we  perceive  the  yearning"  of  human  as 
well  as  divine  compassion.  By  His  lifting  up 
does  He  draw  all  men  to  Him.  And  God  is 
in  Christ  reconciling  the  world  unto  Himself. 

And  when  we  come  to  speak  of  divine  love, 
in  distinction  from  human,  we  can  only  touch 
an  ocean  without  bottom  and  without  shore. 
Here  is  all  the  fulness  of  God,  for  God  is  love. 
The  ways  in  which  this  love  are  expressed  are 
countless,  and  many  of  them  amazing.  The 
bounties  and  the  charms  of  nature  declare  it ; 
the  care  of  daily  providence  confirms  it ;  the 
facts,  ordinances,  and  promises  of  revelation 
magnify  it;  and  the  history  of  grace  through 
all  the  weary  ages  illustrates  it.  In  no  one  of 
these  departments  can  we  measure  its  fulness. 
The  world  around  us  and  the  heavens  above  us 
are  crowded  with  the  shining  tokens  of  God's 
wisdom  and  beneficence,  of  His  care  for  our 
sustenance  and  our  enjoyment.  The  history 
of  every  day  is  replete  with  evidence  that  "His 
tender  mercies  are  over  all  His  works."  But 
more  especially  in  the  gospel  of  His  grace  is 
this  love  made  known.     Here  come  to  view  the 


GRANDEUR   OF  ITS  MISSION.  IOI 

length,  the  breadth,  the  depth,  and  the  height, 
in  each  of  which  it  passeth  knowledge. 

The  commandment  which  meets  us  here  is 
holy,  just,  and  good.  The  types  and  shadows 
of  the  earlier  dispensation  are  full  of  pleasing 
intimations  of  the  grace  to  be  revealed.  And 
the  coming  of  the  great  Deliverer  was  such 
an  unspeakable  boon,  that  prophets  must  be 
commissioned,  in  a  long  line  of  succession,  to 
predict  it,  and  angels  charged  to  appear  in 
hosts  to  celebrate  it.  And  the  Spirit  of  inspi- 
ration, who  searcheth  all  things,  yea,  the  deep 
things  of  God,  and  who  is  also  the  Spirit  of 
truth,  proclaims:  "In  this  was  manifested  the 
love  of  God  toward  us,  because  that  God  sent  his 
only  begotten  Son  into  the  world,  that  we  might 
live  through  him."  Many  times  and  in  many 
forms  is  this  repeated  in  the  true  sayings  of  God. 
This  is  the  sum  of  the  good  tidings  of  great  joy. 
And  the  Spirit  is  ready  to  make  this  message  of 
grace  effectual  to  the  salvation  of  all  them  that 
believe.  The  demonstration  and  the  applica- 
tion are  both  of  God.  Here  we  behold  the 
Father  giving,  the  Son  dying,  the  Spirit  reveal- 


102  GRANDEUR    OF  ITS  MISSION. 

ing,  Each  and  All  intent  upon  our  redemption. 
The  cross  is  the  consecrated  sign,  and  the 
church  the  enduring  monument,  of  this  eternal 
love  of  the  triune  God.  With  the  cords  of  this 
love  does  He  draw  and  bind  men  to  Himself. 
And  in  this  work  He  grants  us  also  a  share  ; 
putting  it  upon  us,  if  we  will  consent,  to  make 
known  the  exceeding  riches  of  His  grace,  and 
to  exhibit  in  the  purity  and  blessedness  of  our 
own  lives  the  benign  efficacy  of  His  transform- 
ing power.  Can  we  elsewhere  wield  so  choice 
and  potent  an  influence  as  this?  Looking  at 
this  kind  of  power,  and  considering  wherein 
its  glory  lies,  noting  the  disposition  in  which  it 
began,  the  purpose  by  which  it  was  disclosed, 
the  sacrifice  by  which  it  was  proved,  and  the 
way  in  which  it  is  applied,  can  we  not  see  that 
there  is  no  honor  like  that  of  beino-  "laborers 
together  with  God  "  ? 

But  we  must  pass  on  to  look  at  the  perfected 
result  of  this  gospel  work.  At  every  stage  it 
is  a  good  work,  but  it  cannot  be  fully  under- 
stood until  it  is  finished.  In  one  sense  it  is 
finished  when  the  work  of  sanctification  is  com- 


GRANDEUR    OF  ITS   MISSION.  103 

plete,  when  every  thought  of  the  renewed 
man  has  been  brought  into  captivity  to  Christ. 
We  are  permitted  to  see  some  examples,  in 
which  this  work  seems  to  be  nearly  or  quite 
complete.  And  we  must  confess  that  a  perfect 
"Christian  is  the  highest  style  of  man."  And 
the  highest  style  of  man  is  the  best  thing  upon 
the  earth.  A  Christian  is  not  perfect  until  the 
same  mind  is  in  him  that  is  in  Christ,  —  the  same 
not  only  in  its  general  spirit  and  purpose,  but 
also  in  all  subordinate  particulars  so  far  as  we 
may  have  the  mind  of  Christ.  He  must  be  a 
singular  man,  or  a  reckless  one,  who,  with  the 
Gospels  in  his  hand,  can  fail  to  see  and  con  less 
that  in  Christ  our  humanity  finds  its  complete- 
ness and  crown.  That  is  a  distempered  fancy, 
which  dreams  of  going  beyond  and  improving 
upon  this  model  of  all  excellence.  No  man, 
with  a  decent  regard  for  truth,  has  ventured  to 
say  that  He  does  not  hold  a  very  lofty  place. 
Even  the  followers  of  Mohammed  allow  this. 
And  few,  if  any,  will  be  found  to  deny  that  it 
would  be  an  infinite  advantage  if  the  world 
generally   could    be    brought  up   to   this   high 


104  GRANDEUR    OF  ITS  MISSION. 

standard,  an  immense  advantage  to  any  com- 
munity which  can  be  named,  however  select, 
enlightened,  advanced.  And,  without  a  ques- 
tion, it  will  be  discovered  that  any  who  think 
they  are  going  beyond  are  really  falling  be- 
hind. This  is  just  what  man  needs,  —  no  less, 
no  more,  — to  reach  the  measure  of  the  stature 
of  the  fulness  of  Christ.  And  if  this  is  the 
point  of  perfection,  then  it  must  be  a  good 
thing,  the  best  thing  practicable,  to  be  pressing 
ourselves  and  drawing  others,  with  all  our 
might,  toward  it.  What  we  do  at  any  partic- 
ular time  is  to  be  estimated  with  reference  to 
the  completeness  toward  which  it  is  reaching. 
And  it  is  matter  for  devout  thankfulness  and 
rejoicing,  that  He  who  hath  begun  a  good  work 
in  us  or  others  will  carry  it  on  unto  perfection. 
There  is  no  reason  to  fear  that  we  shall  lose 
our  labor,  when  it  is  expended  upon  new-born 
souls.  The  earlier  parts  of  the  work  are  not 
less  essential  than  the  later,  which  may  seem 
more  excellent.  He  that  soweth  and  he  that 
reapeth  may  rejoice  together. 

Individual  perfection,  great  and  desirable  as 


GRANDEUR    OF  ITS   MISSION.  105 

it  is,  cannot  show  all  the  strength  and  beauty 
of  gospel  work.  This  takes  account  of  man  as 
a  social  being,  and  aims  not  only  to  make  him 
worthy  of  his  place  in  the  family,  in  society, 
in  the  church,  and  in  the  state,  but  also  to 
make  all  these  worthy  of  him.  And,  obviously, 
in  proportion  as  individuals  are  perfected,  the 
associations  of  them,  whether  larger  or  smaller, 
will  become  so  also.  But  organizations,  how- 
ever faultless  in  theory,  will  be  imperfect  in 
practice,  while  the  individuals  composing  them 
are  imperfect.  The  true  method  of  securing 
the  completeness  of  society,  in  all  its  forms,  or 
that  upon  which  the  chief  reliance  should  be 
placed,  is  by  pressing  individuals  closer  and 
closer  to  the  great  standard  of  righteousness. 
When  there  is  no  wrong  in  individuals,  there 
can  be  none  in  society.  And  when  the  pre- 
ponderance in  any  association  or  community  is 
decidedly  in  favor  of  the  righteous,  it  will  be 
an  easv  thing  to  bring  institutions,  customs, 
and  laws,  to  the  most  desirable  form,  and 
work  them  with  the  requisite  efficiency.  And, 
indeed,  we  might  almost  say  that  in  this  condi- 


106  GRANDEUR    OF  ITS  MISSION. 

tion  of  the  body,  —  domestic,  social,  or  politic, 
—  these  things  will  regulate  themselves,  so 
spontaneous  and  powerful  will  be  the  general 
impulse  to  shape,  preserve,  and  use  them, 
according  to  the  rights  and  needs  of  all  parties 
in  interest. 

But  the  perfected  man  and  perfected  society, 
as  they  are  or  may  be  seen  upon  this  earthly 
theatre  of  action,  disclose  only  the  beginning 
of  the  grand  result  at  which  the  gospel  aims. 
These  are  introductory :  the  great  life,  the 
great  joys,  belong  to  the  future,  the  eternal 
state.  This  is  the  crowning  glory  of  gospel 
work,  that  it  is  for  ever.  The  choicest  works 
of  human  genius,  which  are  of  the  earth  earthy, 
must  in  time  feel  the  touch  of  decay ;  must,  at 
least,  share  in  the  destructive  changes  to  which 
the  earth  itself  is  reserved.  But  this  work  of 
grace,  wrought  in  deathless  souls,  will  change 
only  from  glory  to  glory.  The  risen  body, 
incorruptible  and  immortal,  joined  with  the 
glorified  spirit,  sinless  and  raised  above  every 
weakness,  these  in  exact  harmony,  and  in  the 
presence  of  God  and  the  Lamb  !  —  what  higher, 


GRANDEUR    OF  ITS  MISSION.  107 

what  better,  what  fuller,  can  there  be  than  this? 
What  more  is  there  to  contemplate  or  receive, 
except  the  multiplying  of  the  numbers  by  whom 
this  fulness  is  enjoyed? 

And  this  idea  of  numbers  brings  us  to  the 
remaining  thought  named,  as  indicating  the 
true  character  and  grandeur  of  the  gospel 
work.  A  scheme  so  high  in  its  origin,  so 
peculiar  and  wonderful  in  its  development,  so 
noble  in  its  purpose,  so  rich  in  its  provisions, 
so  genial  in  its  spirit,  so  attractive  in  its  forces, 
and  so  benignant  in  its  operation,  must  be  fitted, 
and,  we  should  say,  also  designed,  for  a  preva- 
lence in  proportion  to  its  excellence.  And  if 
we  ask  the  great  Author  concerning  His  pur- 
pose, He  declares  to  us  that  "the  field  is  the 
world,"  and  the  day  of  its  power  is  until  the  end 
of  the  world.  He  solemnly  charges  us  to  "go 
into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every 
creature."  There  is  no  place  for  halting,  until 
the  earth  shall  be  full  of  the  knowledge  of  the 
Lord.  We  are  not  allowed  to  overlook  either 
the  near  or  the  remote.  The  first  apostles, 
whose   commission   covered   all   nations,    must 


IOS  GRANDEUR    OF  ITS   MISSION. 

» 
begin  at  Jerusalem.  Those  who  had  high 
thoughts  of  the  kingdom  must  not  despise  any 
little  one.  In  this  comprehensiveness  of  design, 
the  gospel  is  like  the  creating  wisdom  of  God. 
The  little  insect — too  small  for  our  unaided 
vision,  too  feeble  for  our  care  —  has  received 
from  the  divine  Hand  as  perfect  a  finish,  and 
from  the  divine  resources  as  perfect  a  provision, 
as  ourselves,  or  as  an)'  brightest  orb  or  angel 
in  the  heights  of  heaven.  The  gospel  is  for 
man,  in  a  very  important  sense  for  man  only  ; 
but  it  is  for  universal  man.  And  the  business 
of  those  called  into  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord  is 
to  give  free  course  to  the  gospel  in  all  lands, 
as  quickly  as  possible,  by  all  the  facilities  at 
their  command  for  so  high  and  spiritual  a  pur- 
pose. In  Christian  communities,  in  a  large 
number  of  Christian  families,  new  subjects  are 
coming  forward  to  be  moulded  by  its  spirit,  or 
to  £0  out  and  wield  their  influence  against  it. 
In  the  church  itself  are  some  to  be  reclaimed 
from  their  wanderings,  many  to  be  urged 
onward  and  upward  to  higher  attainments  in 
grace,    and    nobler    achievements    for    Christ. 


GRANDEUR    OF  ITS   MISSION.  109 

Some  have  a  name  to  live,  and  lo  !  they  are 
dead.  To  these,  of  whatever  name,  —  Greek, 
Roman,  Armenian,  or  Nestorian,  — the  gospel 
is  to  be  brought  as  a  quickening  power.  And 
in  the  regions  beyond,  millions  rise  upon  mil- 
lions, who  have  not  yet  heard  the  precious 
Name.  They  have  their  own  religions,  but  in 
them  is  but  little  to  guide,  purify,  or  comfort, 
nothing  to  save,  their  souls.  They  are  wedded 
to  their  superstitions,  and  may  think  themselves 
wiser  than  those  who  come  to  show  them  the 
way  of  life. 

And  some  there  are,  who  wrould  leave  them 
under  their  delusions,  because,  in  their  view, 
these,  if  not  the  best  things,  are  at  least  well 
enough  for  them.  They  even  account  it  a 
reproach  to  Christianity,  that  it  aims  to  super- 
sede all  these,  because,  as  it  alleges,  they  can- 
not save  the  soul.  They  esteem  it  intolerance 
in  the  advocates  of  the  gospel,  if  not  also  in  its 
Author,  that  they  allow  no  other  foundation  for 
human  hope.  Nothing  is  plainer  than  this, 
that  Christ,  in  His  own  apprehension,  came 
not  to  be  a  king  among  kings,  a  lord  among 


HO  GRANDEUR    OF  ITS   MISSION. 

lords,  but  the  Kin£  of  kin^s  and  Lord  of  lords. 
There  is  a  sense  in  which  the  gospel  is  uncom- 
promising, full  as  it  is  of  all  sweetest  tenderness 
and  gentle  charities.  It  claims  the  whole  world, 
because  it  is  the  word  of  the  one  only,  the  liv- 
ing, and  the  true  God,  to  the  creatures  whom 
He  alone  has  made,  and  whom  alone  His  only 
Son  can  redeem.  It  claims  the  whole  world, 
because  it  speaks  in  the  name  of  the  one  great 
Sovereign  of  the  world.  Christ  claims  the  faith 
and  obedience  of  all  men,  because  He  came 
down  from  heaven,  and  gave  Himself  a  ransom 
for  all. 

Lords  many  and  gods  many  there  may  be 
in  the  faiths  of  fallen  men,  and  these  may  have 
their  rivalries,  but  He  who  made  the  heavens 
and  the  earth  acknowledges  none  of  them. 
Knowing  that  there  is  no  God  except  Himself, 
it  is  His  right  to  require  that  men  shall  not 
acknowledge  any  other.  Christ,  the  only  real 
incarnation  of  God,  may  justly  claim  the  hom- 
age of  all  for  whom  He  became  flesh,  and  for 
whom  in  the  flesh  He  laid  down  His  life.  To 
do   otherwise   would    be   to   deny   Himself,   to 


GRANDEUR    OF  ITS   MISSION.  Ill 

bring  Himself  down  to  a  level  with  the  cre- 
ations of  men.  While  He  rejects  nothing  that 
is  true  and  good  in  the  teachings  of  any  man, 
He  claims  to  be  "the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the 
Life." 

Confucius,  Gautama,  Zoroaster,  Moham- 
med, and  many  others  revered  by  multitudes 
as  sources  of  divine  knowledge,  taught  much 
truth  ;  but  not  one  of  them  is  a  Saviour,  not  one 
of  them  is  King  of  truth.  When  the  gospel 
comes  to  their  adherents,  it  does  not  require 
them  to  renounce  any  true  doctrine,  or  abandon 
any  right  practice.  And  yet,  without  a  ques- 
tion, their  systems  of  faith  and  worship  as  such 
will  be  overturned  by  the  gospel,  wherever  it 
is  received.  And  what  harm,  we  may  here 
-inquire,  if  all  these  systems  should  give  place  to 
the  gospel?  Are  they  doing  such  great  things 
for  their  adherents,  that  these  would  suffer  loss 
if  they  should  be  taken  away,  and  Christianity 
installed  in  their  stead?  This  question  may  be 
answered  by  asking  two  more.  Where  are 
the  nations  to-day,  that  cling  to  any  of  these 
systems,  and  yet  are  in  advance  of  the  great 


112  GRANDEUR    OF  ITS   MISSION. 

Christian  nations,  or  that  ever  were  in  advance 
of  them,  with  respect  to  culture,  character, 
institutions,  and  the  means  for  obtaining  and 
dispensing  either  the  common  comforts  or  the 
choicest  enjoyments  of  life?  And  what  is  the 
character  of  the  work  wrought  by  the  heralds 
of  the  cross  in  our  times  among  the  adherents 
of  these  systems,  so  far  as  they  have  been  able 
to  prevail  with  them  to  receive  the  gospel  ? 
Have  they  not  been  lifted  to  a  higher  plane 
of  intelligence,  civilization,  morals,  and  enjoy- 
ment? 

But  even  if  the  objections,  which  some  urge 
against  what  they  call  the  exclusiveness  or 
intolerance  of  Christianity,  were  valid,  little 
would  be  taken  from  the  sublimity  of  the  mis- 
sion to  which  it  calls  its  adherents.  With 
reason  or  without  re: son,  Christ  summons  His 
followers  to  attempt  the  conversion  of  the  world. 
And  they  who  truly  believe  in  Him  cannot  set 
any  narrower  limits  to  their  commission.  And 
if  they  are  true  to  their  own  faith,  they  will 
throw  themselves  into  this  great  undertaking. 
And   there   is   nothing    so    sublime    in    human 


GRANDEUR    OF  ITS  MISSION.  1 13 

action  as  this.  It  would  be  a  grand  scheme  to 
convert  a  single  race,  or  some  great  empire 
like  that  of  China  or  Japan.  But  it  is  far 
grander  to  embrace  all  races,  all  empires,  all 
tribes;  all  kindred,  and  all  tongues. 

But  the  bare  naming  of  the  countries  and  the 
peoples,  the  survey  of  the  vast  area  for  which 
the  gospel  is  designed,  does  not  convey  any 
thing  like  an  adequate  idea  of  the  work  to  be 
accomplished.  It  would  be  no  very  difficult 
thing  to  raise  an  army  of  heralds,  and  send 
them  forth  into  all  lands.  It  would  be  no 
special  burden  for  these  heralds  to  deliver  their 
message,  if  the  nations  were  only  waiting  to 
receive  them.  But  the  way  must  be  prepared. 
A  language  unformed  must  be  reduced  to  order  ; 
another,  bristling  all  over  with  difficulties,  must 
be  acquired,  and  when  acquired,  found  defi- 
cient in  terms  to  state  the  cardinal  truths  of  the 
gospel ;  prejudices  must  be  removed,  hostility 
abated,  hypocrisy  circumvented,  and  all  the 
twistings  and  turnings  of  human  perversity 
followed  and  defeated.  It  is  especially  in  this 
variety,  fulness,  complexity,  and  obstinacy  of 

8 


114  GRANDEUR    OF  ITS  MISSION. 

the  details,  which  confront  the  great  enterprise, 
that  we  see  the  loftiness  of  aim  and  purpose 
which  moved  Him,  who  first  undertook  Him- 
self and  now  summons  us  to  such  a  service, 
and  which  must  move  those  who  would  enter 
heartily  and  efficiently  into  it.  He  who  gets 
his  eye  fairly  upon  this  work,  and  his  heart 
and  hands  fully  in  it,  will  not  be  in  want  of  a 
mission  to  engross  his  sympathies  or  employ 
his  energies.  He  will  not  ask  for  any  thing 
greater,  but  only  for  wisdom,  grace,  and 
strength,  to  make  full  proof  of  his  ministry. 
The  names  of  Alexander  and  Caesar  will  be 
kept,  not  only  in  the  knowledge,  but  also  in  the 
admiration  of  multitudes,  perhaps  as  long  as 
the  world  shall  stand,  because  in  their  daring 
ambition  they  conquered  the  world.  But  the 
glory  of  the  Macedonian  and  of  the  Roman  is 
a  poor  and  hollow  thing  in  comparison  with 
that  which  shall  accrue  to  the  Captain  of  our 
salvation,  when  great  voices  in  heaven  shall 
proclaim  that  "the  kingdoms  of  this  world  are 
become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord,  and  of  his 
Christ ;  and  he  shall  reign  for  ever  and  ever." 


GRANDEUR    OF  ITS  MISSION.  1 15 

And  in  that  glory  shall  every  man  have  a 
share,  if  only  he  has  been  a  faithful  helper 
unto  the  kingdom  of  God.  The  service  is  one, 
in  whatever  age,  country,  or  sphere  performed. 
The  poor  widow,  who  cast  her  two  mites  into 
the  treasury  of  the  Lord,  will  have  a  part  in 
the  honor  of  the  final  triumph  as  surely  as 
that  great  apostle,  who,  from  Jerusalem  round 
about  unto  Illyricum,  fully  preached  the  gospel 
of  Christ.  There  is  no  right  and  worthy  thing 
to  be  done,  which  may  not  be  made  a  part  of 
this  service.  Every  man  in  his  own  calling, 
in  his  own  place  and  business,  provided  they 
are  such  as  God  can  approve,  may  bear  a  part 
in  pressing  forward  the  standards  of  the  con- 
quering host. 

And  this  is  a  thing  of  the  greatest  moment. 
If  nothing  could  be  done  in  this  great  enter- 
prise  except  in  particular  lines  of  effort,  —  like 
making  a  pilgrimage,  or  preaching  the  word 
in  the  way  of  set  and  official  discourse,  —  only 
a  few  could  have  a  part  in  it.  The  necessities 
of  life  bind  most  to  other  kinds  of  service. 
Christ  is   not   unmindful   of  these   necessities. 


n6 


GRANDEUR    OF  ITS   MISSION. 


His  regard  for  them  is  evinced  by  that  saying, 
''The  sabbath  was  made  for  man,  not  man  for 
the  sabbath."  Some  parts  of  human  care  and 
toil  seem  to  have  little  dignity  or  use,  as  com- 
pared with  others ;  but  we  should  remember 
that  what  is  feeble  may  be  even  more  necessary. 
Great  trusts  are  few,  and  but  few  are  called  to 
meet  them.  Little  things  are  many,  and  to  the 
many  it  is  given  to  do  them.  If  one  desires 
the  office  of  a  bishop,  he  desires  a  good  work. 
But  one  may  also  receive  the  reward  of  a  good 
and  faithful  servant,  if,  whatever  little  things  he 
is  called  to  do,  he  does  them  heartily  as  unto 
the  Lord.  Every  kind  of  lawful  and  useful 
business  should  be  regarded  and  followed  as  a 
divinely  appointed  stewardship. 

The  fault  of  many  is  not  in  what  they  do, 
but  in  doing  it  for  themselves  outside  of  the 
vineyard  of  the  Lord.  We  can  do  the  most 
common  things  out  of  respect  to  the  will  of 
God,  and  with  the  abiding  purpose  to  honor 
Him.  We  can  hold  our  time,  our  plans,  our 
activities,  our  pleasures,  and  our  gains,  at 
God's    bidding    and    disposal.     So    doing,    we 


GRANDEUR    OF  ITS  MISSION.  1 17 

shall  be  in  His  service,  let  our  calling  be  what 
it  may.  To  suffer  for  Christ's  sake  belongs 
also  to  this  comprehensive  service.  And  in 
the  grand  economy  of  grace,  perhaps,  none 
can  so  ill  be  spared  as  those  who  suffer  for 
Him.  The  finer  and  more  difficult  parts  of 
the  work  are  given  to  them.  And  those  who 
are  too  poor  to  give,  too  weak  to  labor,  and  so 
mercifully  cared  for  that  they  need  not  suffer, 
may  with  their  praying  breath  help  on  the 
great  endeavor.  With  a  look  of  sympathy, 
and  a  word  of  supplication  and  of  benediction, 
the  dying  may  hallow  it  and  give  it  impulse. 
And  if  one  has  genius  to  devise  and  strength 
to  execute  great  things,  he  will  find  room  in 
this  service  for  the  best  he  can  think  or  say  or 
do.  The  difficulty  of  explaining  and  applying 
the  word  of  God  so  as  to  reach  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  young  and  old,  of  them  that  are  near 
and  them  afar  off,  of  defending  the  faith  against 
the  assaults  of  impiety  and  unbelief,  of  project- 
ing and  working  necessary  agencies  for  the 
relief  of  suffering  and  the  supply  of  want,  will 
so  tax  his  wisdom   and  his  endurance,  that  he 


Il8  GRANDEUR    OF  ITS  MISSION. 

will  be  constrained  to  say,  "Who  is  sufficient 
for  these  things  ? "  Entering  fully  into  the 
work  of  Christ,  he  will  find  it  broad  and  deep 
and  high  enough  for  all  the  wisdom  of  men, 
taught  and  strengthened  by  the  wisdom  of 
God. 


CONCLUSION.  119 


XL 


CONCLUSION. 

COME  claiming  to  be  the  most  advanced 
thinkers  of  this  age  do  not  scruple  to  set 
aside  the  gospel  as  effete,  or  of  less  importance 
than  the  speculations  and  discoveries  of  their 
fertile  minds.  This  assumption  should  lead  all 
true  believers  to  contend  more  earnestly  for  the 
faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints.  We  will  not 
disparage  their  persons  or  their  acquisitions. 
But  when  Henry  Buckle  tells  us,  that  "it 
may  well  be,  that  in  the  march  of  ages  eveiy 
definite  and  written  creed  now  existing  is  to  die 
out,  and  to  be  succeeded  by  better  ones,"  our 
answer  is,  or  would  be,  had  he  not  already 
proved  its  truth  in  part,  "All  flesh  is  grass, 
and  all  the  goodliness  thereof  is  as  the  flower 
of  the    field.   .    .    .  The    grass    withereth,   the 


120  CONCLUSION. 

flower  fadeth  :  but  the  word  of  our  God  shall 
stand  for  ever."  When  John  Stuart  Mill  says 
to  us  :  "Many  essential  elements  of  the  highest 
morality  are  not  provided  for,  nor  intended  to 
be  provided  for,  in  the  recorded  deliverances 
of  the  Founder  of  Christianity.  ...  I  think  it  a 
great  error  to  persist  in  attempting  to  find  in 
the  Christian  doctrine  that  complete  rule  for 
our  guidance,  which  its  Author  intended  to 
enforce,  but  only  partially  to  provide,"  our 
answer  is  :  "  The  law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect, 
converting  the  soul :  the  testimony  of  the  Lord 
is  sure,  making  wise  the  simple."  "Though 
we,  or  an  angel  from  heaven,  preach  any  other 
gospel  unto  you  than  that  which  we  have 
preached  unto  you,  let  him  be  accursed." 
When  E.  L.  Youmans  teaches  us  that  "it  is 
now  established  that  the  dependence  of  thought 
upon  organic  conditions  is  so  intimate  and  ab- 
solute, that  they  can  no  longer  be  considered 
except  as  unity,"  we  confront  him  with  the 
words  of  the  Royal  Preacher  :  "Then  shall  the 
dust  return  to  the  earth  as  it  was  :  and  the 
spirit    shall    return    unto    God    who    gave    it." 


CONCLUSION.  121 

And  when  he  further  affirms  :  "  The  full-orbed 
intellect  is  yet  to  come,  and  will  doubtless 
bring  with  it  the  perpetual  motion  and  the 
Jews' Messias,"  we  tell  him  that  "grace  and 
truth  came  by  Jesus  Christ ;  "  that  "  God  hath 
in  these  last  days  spoken  unto  us  by  his  Son, 
.  .  .  the  brightness  of  his  glory,  and  the  express 
image  of  his  person." 

These  men,  and  others  like  them,  speaking  in 
the  name  of  History,  Philosophy,  and  Science, 
have  power  to  mislead  many  who  have  not 
known  by  experience  the  grace  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  to  unsettle  the  faith  of  some 
who  have  believed.  Of  all  such,  in  so  far  as 
they  make  war  upon  Christianity,  must  we  be 
able  to  say  to  those  imperilled  by  their  show 
of  superior  wisdom  :  w  To  whom  we  gave  place 
by  subjection,  no,  not  for  an  hour ;  that  the 
truth  of  the  gospel  may  continue  with  you." 
Bold  as  is  the  tone  of  modern  Unbelief,  we  have 
no  occasion  to  be  disquieted  for  the  ark  of  God. 
The  power  of  the  Cross  is  mighty,  our  enemies 
themselves  being  judges.  Lecky,  in  his  lau- 
dation of  Rationalism,  makes  this  admission  : 


122  CONCLUSION. 

"  When  we  look  back  to  the  cheerful  alacrity 
with  which,  in  some  former  ages,  men  sacri- 
ficed all  their  material  and  intellectual  interests 
to  what  they  believed  to  be  right,  and  when  we 
realize  the  unclouded  assurance  that  was  their 
reward,  it  is  impossible  to  deny  that  we  have 
lost  something  in  our  progress."  Guizot  tells 
us  of  an  intelligent  and  distinguished  disciple 
of  Voltaire,  who  said  to  him  :  "  It  is  not  on  my 
own  account  that  I  regret  these  attacks,  but  I 
ask  for  regularity  and  peace  in  my  own  house- 
hold ;  I  felicitate  myself  that  my  wife  is  a 
Christian,  and  I  mean  my  daughters  to  be 
brought  up  like  Christian  women.  These  de- 
molishers  know  not  what  they  are  doing  ;  it  is 
not  merely  upon  our  churches,  it  is  upon  our 
houses  and  their  inmates,  that  their  blows  are 
telling  !  "  And  the  philosopher  Diderot  is  re- 
ported to  have  said  to  his  associates,  at  the 
house  of  Baron  d'Holbach  :  "  In  spite  of  all  the 
evil  we  have  spoken,  and  doubtless  with  reason 
enough,  of  this  book,  I  defy  you,  witli  all  your 
power,  to  compose  a  narrative  which  shall  be 
as  simple,  but  at  the  same  time  as  sublime  and 


CONCLUSION.  123 

as  touching,  as  the  recital  of  the  passion  and 
death  of  Jesus  Christ ;  which  shall  produce  the 
same  effect,  and  make  so  strong  a  sensation,  felt 
so  generally  by  all,  and  the  influence  of  which 
shall  continue  the  same  after  so  many  ages." 
Astonishment  and  silence  were  the  fit,  the 
impressive,   and  the  only  answer. 


Cambridge :  Stereotyped  and  Printed  by  John  Wilson  and  Son. 


